Stuart Gilmour was 26ft up a ladder outside Maria Goodey’s house when a ‘giggling’ officer arrived. The painter’s unique decorating style had already been brought to the attention of neighbours
A cheeky decorator caused quite a stir when he was caught in the buff painting his friend’s house exterior with nothing on but his boots.
Naturist Stuart Gilmour, 45, was perched 26ft up on a ladder at Maria Goodey’s home when a police officer arrived to investigate. Neighbours had been pre-warned by Maria with a note that pleaded for kindness towards Stuart’s unconventional techniques. As the approach of the electric vehicle interrupted his work, Stuart glanced back and realised the authorities had been alerted.
After shuffling down the ladder, Stuart explained he was a naturist who had Maria’s permission to be nude, before he says the cop wished him well and drove off. Stuart said: “One female officer came out. It was an electric car so it sounded a bit strange, I looked round and saw that it was a police car.
“She pulled in and I thought ‘well I’m not going to stay on the ladder so she has to get out of the car and look up at me, I’ll come down the ladder and meet her at the bottom’. She got out [of her car] giggling to herself and she said ‘do you have any idea why I’m here? I said, ‘well I’ve got a good idea’ and we were giggling. I said ‘I’m just painting, I’m a naturist’ and gave her the spiel of ‘it’s not illegal to be naked in public and I’ve got the permission of the owner’.
“She just went ‘no problem at all, I hope you have a happy day painting’ and off she went and that was that. I’ve now got the most famous builder’s bum in the North West.” Dad-of-two Stuart embarked on the hefty three-day mission to spruce up Maria’s home in Middleton, Greater Manchester, on June 13. With the sun beaming down, he cheekily enquired if the 57-year-old transport coordinator would mind him stripping down to his skin for the paint job, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Maria gave the thumbs up, and Stuart set about transforming the terracotta tiles into a chic brown shade, complementing the window frames. To keep things decent, at 2.30pm sharp each day, he slipped back into his tracksuit bottoms and tee to avoid startling any school kids or parents from the nearby school.
Little did Stuart know, Maria had sneakily informed the neighbours of his scantily clad antics by slipping notes through their doors. Stuart found himself having perfectly ordinary conversations with locals who seemed unfazed by his au naturel approach to DIY. “I enjoy being outdoors and I like to help people out when I can,” he said. “It was quite warm so I phoned her and asked for permission to strip off, because obviously I don’t want to upset anybody, and she said ‘yeah, no problem’.”
Stuart was blissfully unaware of the letterbox alerts Maria had distributed, which explained why neighbours chatted to him as if everything was normal. He suspects a gobsmacked tradesman who glimpsed his bare behind might have been the one to call the cops, leading to an unexpected visit on June 14.
To save the officer from any embarrassment, Stuart descended the ladder to find a policewoman waiting at the bottom. He explained that being naked in public isn’t illegal and he had Maria’s permission to be nude, which seemed to satisfy the officer.
“A passing van with a mini digger had come into the cul-de-sac to turn around and I think it might have been him who called the police,” Stuart speculated. Regularly going about his business in the buff, Stuart found an unexpected advantage to painting in the nude – feeling more confident working at such heights.
He shared: “It’s the first time I’ve been on a ladder so high up nude. When I was clothed I was a bit shaky and remember thinking ‘God this is high’ but when I was naked I was absolutely fine. I felt like I was in contact with the ladder and I wasn’t going to get my clothes caught on anything because I didn’t have any. I felt more comfortable naked than in the pants and t-shirt. It was nice to be able to get on with the job and not be worried about upsetting anybody.”
Despite feeling more at ease in his birthday suit than regular attire, Stuart emphasised his respect for others’ beliefs. “I don’t mind the police coming out, they’ve got to check up,” he said. “If you force it [naturism] on people they’re not willing to listen. If you show that bit of respect to families when they have children about, they’re more accepting of you.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do. It’s not everyday you see someone naked walking around is it? I suppose it helps I’ve got a nice bottom.” Neighbour Maria agreed, stating: “The top and bottom of it is I didn’t want him getting any grief. I wrote something out for every neighbour and posted it through the letterbox. I just felt it was the right thing to do.
“Stuart is lovely and he has an absolute heart of gold and I know he doesn’t deserve the backlash. I caused a bit of a stir, there were a few photographs going round. As far as I’m aware, because people knew what was happening, nobody had anything bad [to say] and we gather that the person who reported him to the police wasn’t actually a neighbour. He’s done a fantastic job, I highly recommend him.”
Maria’s note to neighbours read: “Just so you are aware, I have a decorator painting the outside this week, he is a ‘naturist’. He promotes ‘loving the skin you’re in’, mental health and wellbeing, ‘nude is not rude’. He’s a really lovely man – please be kind! He will be fully clothed after 2.30pm – thinking of school children. Thank-you, Maria.”
Greater Manchester Police confirmed the log details.
