The naked civil servant: CPS lawyer seeks work as nude model (while off on sick leave)

Clifford Allison, 56, who handles sensitive cases in the organisation's Special Crime Division, has advertised his services as a semi-professional 'erotic' actor on the internet.

The 17-stone married father of three says his work preferences include 'lingerie, glamour, implied nude, adult and topless'.

Bar-ing all: 17st lawyer Clifford Allison poses in his garden in a shot from his website

His attempts at forging a new career in the theatrical world have caused widespread astonishment in the legal profession and at CPS headquarters.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald QC, is said to be baffled by Mr Allison's ability to carry out modelling work while supposedly under too much stress to return to his desk.

But Mr Allison, who has been off sick for about a year, insists he is not taking advantage of his employers.

Day job: A fully clothed Mr Allison who earns £80,000 a year as a CPS lawyer

It is understood he has told them that his doctor regards his work as ' therapeutic' and is helping him recover.

Mr Allison earns about £80,000 a year and advises on complex high-profile prosecutions.

For the first six months of his absence, he was on full pay. In line with CPS policy, his payments were then reduced and Mr Allison has thrown himself into his new line of work - listing his achievements in great detail on the internet.

A former treasurer of the Bar Council, he describes himself as a registered English barrister 'with curly hair looking to diversify with good voice and presence'.

He continues: 'Well-spoken, tall, bespectacled and not traditionally good-looking. I do not restrict myself to any social group.

'I have always wanted to try acting/modelling/voice work and would regret letting the opportunity pass without having a go!

'My appearance is quite "WASP" (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) at present, as required by the day job. That does not however mean that I can only do WASPish things.

'Voiceover work has distinct attractions. I am not trained as an actor but my profession gives me an inroad into theatricals and what they demand.

'I am available to try anything, knowing that middle-aged men are not what scouts will often look for!'

Mr Allison also goes in detail about his thespian experience.

'I have no formal acting training beyond school but have done media training relevant to my work and attended a voiceover workshop.

'I have been interviewed a couple of times on TV/radio.

'I starred very successfully in a school play (Toad of Toad Hall) and have been recruited by a murder mystery production company.

'I have done a paid photo-shoot for TV and some life modelling, also a couple of student shoots.

'My profession means I am no stranger to theatricals and know how to use my voice.

'There is a known interface between the two professions.'

His acting experience includes parts in a short film called Penguin: Naked Penguins Save the Earth (in which he and other nude men imitate penguins), a pop video entitled the Bearded Nymph and another film, Aged Raver.

He lives in a £750,000 farmhouse near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, and drives a Bentley.

At the house yesterday a woman in her twenties said her father was on holiday in Spain.

She said: 'I'll send him a text but he's on the beach and I doubt if he'll see it.'

A call to his mobile phone was answered by his wife, who said he was off work with stress and not taking calls at the moment.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: 'CPS employees must seek written permission before seeking secondary employment.

'We will be contacting him to seek some clarification around this issue.'