THE police helicopter was scrambled yesterday to help hunt for a naked man who streaked through two Gwent towns.

The naked man, carrying a flag with the words The Right To Be Free on it, was pursued by the police helicopter in Monmouth yesterday afternoon. But despite the helicopter, he managed to gave officers the slip.

The man, who is said to be in his forties, and was only wearing boots and a rucksack, was spotted at The Hendre at 1.15pm.

And Sergeant Nick Hayes, of Monmouth police, said he believed the same man was seen naked and wearing a rucksack, but without the flag, in Tintern, at 2pm on Wednesday.

Tracy Davies, an assistant at Tintern Stores, said: "I didn't see him myself, but I heard about it. There was a man walking down Angiddy Valley, the road up by The George pub.

"Apparently he was a strapping man and had a big haversack on. The lady who saw him said he was tanned all over, he didn't have any tan lines at all, which made her think he does it all the time.

"It was about 2.30pm. Another hour and the school bus would have been going past, which wouldn't have been so funny."

There was one call made to police about the sighting in Monmouth yesterday, but nobody at the nearby Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club or Rockfield Studios knew anything about it.

Sgt Hayes said the helicopter was used because they needed to search such a wide expanse of land.

He said: "It was impossible to search it in any other way."

But Sgt Hayes added: "I don't think he's a threat to anyone, he's probably an activist of some sort."