Brit mountain stripper Ellie Hawkins given three days in prison

She freed the nipple and caused an earthquake


The hapless gap year tourist arrested for posing topless on a sacred mountain has been released.

Earlier today Eleanor Hawkins, 24, who studied at Southampton, pleaded guilty to an “obscene act in a public place to the annoyance of others”.

She was jailed for three days but has been in custody since Tuesday.

Reports say she was “very quick” to enter a guilty plea. She has also been fined £1000.

Bizarrely it emerged they stripped off their kit at 6:45 am, six days before the fatal earthquake that killed 18 climbers.

The court heard the group had been noisy and one had even weed in a pond — offending the tribal elders on Mount Kinabalu.

Ellie is one of four western tourists who pleaded guilty. There was public outrage when the group apparently angered the gods and caused the quake.

They climbed the highest peak in Malaysia, took their clothes off and posed for a cheeky snap. But the peak, a UNESCO world heritage site, is said to be a resting place for spirits.

Mount Kinabalu, on the island of Borneo, is a popular climbing spot also sacred with local tribes.

Former head girl Eleanor, who achieved four As in her A-levels at £11,700-a-year Ockbrook School in Derbyshire, was said to be very upset in the build-up to the trial.

The judge quashed accusations they had called their guides stupid and told them to “shut up” and “go to hell”. Instead he recorded the group had ignored their guides.

Prosecutor Jamil Ariffin said the sentence would be a “deterrent” to others and public feeling should be taken into account.

He added: “Many Malaysians will have seen the photos and their actions have caused annoyance. We expect them to obey the law and respect our culture.

“Just because we extend our hospitality to them it doesn’t give them the right to behave like this.”

Ellie’s lawyer said the group were “ignorant” of the tribe’s beliefs about the sacred mountain.

Defence counsel Ronny Cham said: “They belong to a generation defined by their own peculiarities in the country from where they come from – more freedom and liberty to express their thoughts and ideas and openly express what they really felt and thought.”

The snaps showed the four men fully naked and six girls topless on Mt Kinabalu in the state of Sabah. An earthquake registering 6.0 on the Richter scale killed 18 climbers just six days after the pics were taken.

Rare in Malaysia, the earthquake is being blamed by tribesmen on a mountain phantom and the ghosts of their ancestors venting their rage at the foreigners’ antics.

Eleanor, from Derby, has a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering. She was arrested as she tried to board a flight from Sabah to Kuala Lumpar.

Malaysian tribal chiefs called for hapless Eleanor to be jailed or pay a fine of 10 buffalo, called a sogit.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, blamed the foreigners for showing “disrespect to the sacred mountain” and causing the earthquake.

He said a special ritual will be conducted to “appease the mountain spirit.”

Priest Tindarama Aman Sirom Simbuna said: “The tourists who angered the guardian of the mountain should pay for their mistakes by giving sogit. 

“This should be in the form of ten male or female buffalo.”

Canadian Emil posted a photograph of the group stripping on his Facebook and a video.

In the video, Emil — who was blasted as a half-wit by Ellie’s father — said: “It’s just a fucking mountain.”