Luke Alsford
Published November 30, 2025 11:19am
Updated November 30, 2025 11:19am
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Previous Page Next PageA nude cyclist who was punched of his bike during a charity ride has defended naturism.
Rob Brown, 59, was cycling through Colchester, Essex, during a Four Seasons World Naked Bike Ride event on August 9 when he was assaulted.
He hit the pavement after being punched by motorcyclist Lee Turnage, 46.
Turnage was handed a suspended prison sentence at Ipswich Crown Court for causing actual bodily harm earlier this month.
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The attack left Brown, who now relies on a walking stick for longer distances, with grazing to his hands, arm, and legs.
The naturist has called for the public to change their attitude towards public nudity.
The website designer said: ‘If I don’t go on another ride then he’s won. It won’t stop me.
‘Unfortunately, these attacks are an occupational hazard but they shouldn’t be. We are not perverts.
‘I’ve never been embarrassed about a naked body, it is the plumbing that’s different.
‘It’s nice to let the air get to every part of you and be yourself.
‘We need to have more events like this so it becomes the norm and acceptable.’
Brown was taking part in the Four Seasons World Naked Bike Ride event (Picture Robert Brown / SWNS)
Brown says he has been a naturist ‘all his life’ and had participated in charity rides across the globe.
He is the ride leader of the Clacton division of the Four Seasons World Naked Bike Ride, which protests the ‘destructive elements’ of car culture.
Naturism is defined by British Naturism as a ‘philosophical belief in a natural, naked lifestyle wherein persons espouse nudity as part or possibly all of their lifestyle’.
There are believed to be as many as 6.7 million naturists in the UK, according to a survey by British Naturism.
Brown, who is also part of the Naturist Action Group, said Turnage rode past the naked riders while making a ‘filthy’ gesture with his fist.
Riding in Colchester, he said: ‘It started out as any other ride. The town crier saw us off and all around the route was perfectly fine.
‘I saw him coming down the road and he made a filthy gesture with his fist and called us “wankers”.
‘I moved in front of my deaf friend so they could read my lips to tell them to move over to the layby because I knew he was going to come back.
‘I heard him turn around and rev. Before I knew what had happened, I felt this almighty whack to the head.’
Turnage claimed he mistook the nude cyclist for a ‘pervert’.
Brown is still left in pain three months after the assault (Picture: James Linsell Clark)
The assault left Brown with an unusable bike and enduring injuries that still plague him after three months.
The 59-year-old said: ‘I do find it very hard. If I drop something, I can’t bend my knee to pick it up.
‘I’m alright getting around my house but when I walk outside, I need my walking stick.’
The law around outraging public decency protests genuine naturists, saying: ‘a naturist whose intention is limited to going about their lawful business while naked will not be guilty of sexual offences’.
Indeed the College of Policing say naturists have a right to freedom of expression.
It is only a sexual offence when the behaviour is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, the guidance states.
The crime of outraging public decency applies when a person’s behaviour is lewd, obscene or disgusting as to shock.
Brown said he hopes the public familiarise themselves with the law around naturism and realise it is a lawful hobby.
The College of Policing say naturists have a right to freedom of expression (Picture: Robert Brown / SWNS)
He explained: ‘Nudity anywhere in the UK, whether it is socially or private, is perfectly legal.
‘Most of the general public who turn up to see our bike rides push their kids to the front and we see them waving and cheering.
‘We quite often find that having a naked female in our group tends to pacify people – it’s when we just have men that we get the comments of ‘paedo’ or ‘pervert’.
‘We live in a society where consenting adults have rights. We want to try and get people to think in a different way to what they are.
‘No child has ever been harmed by the sight of a naked body and never will. We just hope to change people’s mindset.’
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Brown attended Turnage’s trial and said his case ‘sets a legal precedent’.
He said: ‘The judge made a point of saying the assault was worse for me because I was naked.
‘My case is a first. It has set a legal precedent. Judges haven’t had another case to base their decisions on at crown court level and now they have.
‘You can’t go around assaulting policemen either.’
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