Living in fear: Homeless scared to sleep over threat of violence

Kris Jepson reports from Teesside where a homeless man is living in fear of repeated violence as new figures reveal those without a home are more likely to be murdered
When you are homeless, life becomes unpredictable.
Addiction, bad health and the weather all have an impact.
But survival can be taken away in a flash by violence.
According to data shared first with ITV News by the Museum of Homelessness, those without a permanent roof over their head are significantly more likely to be murdered.
An estimated 14 homeless people were murdered last year in the UK. The average age of those killed was 42.
One man on Teesside, who is relatively new to homelessness, told ITV Tyne Tees he was attacked three times during his first six weeks on the streets.
Terry, not his real name, said: “My tent was set on fire. I was absolutely devastated. I broke down. I’d been living in that for two weeks.
“I could’ve been in it, but there’s been a lot of people attacked that I know. The homeless are getting attacked quite often now.
“People have been asleep and they’ve been kicked, punched for being homeless and looking scruffy.
“Myself, a car pulled up and lads jumped out and beat me up. I tried to walk into town, but I collapsed. Two or three days on the streets, I was attacked again.”
The episodes have left a permanent mark on Terry.
“I couldn’t even sleep, even though I had a sleeping bag, I couldn’t sleep,” he continued. “I was tired and drained the next day.
“I was that tired I couldn’t even have the motivation to go to the food bank. I feel very vulnerable. It’s scary.”
Now Terry says his biggest fear at night is being attacked, or worse, murdered.
“I fear for it. I definitely fear for it, yes,” he added. “People are being attacked. It’s not a very nice place to be, but you live each day as it comes and be thankful and grateful for the day… That’s all we can be.”
His fear is unsurprising, as data shared exclusively with TV News by the Museum of Homelessness suggests homeless people are at least three times more likely to be murdered than people who have homes.
Though this analysis is sourced from the only available data shared with the charity from around 90% of councils, they say it is a worrying number.
Matt Turtle, from the charity, described the statistic as “staggering”.
“I think people are navigating lives of violence,” he said. “People who are at risk in a hostel setting, for example, perhaps somebody is looking for them.
“Or it might be where the person they’re relying on turns out to be a perpetrator. So people are living precarious and dangerous lives often and that is a really sad thing.”
Susan Gill, the former owner of Middlesbrough Homeless Cafe, told ITV News she has mourned dozens of people she used to feed.
Records obtained by the charity only show an estimated eight deaths during those years. The charity claims it has been difficult to get a clear picture across the country, with one in ten councils unable to provide any data on deaths at all.
Susan said, during her time, there was one death that she felt was suspicious. This person was staying in homeless accommodation at the time.
“One of the lads who used the cafe – he used to come in with his friend and then his friend died and it was a couple of days after he’d died he came in and I went up to him and I said ‘I’m so sorry to hear about your friend’.
“He said you know, ‘I was the one that found him’. He was his best friend, he was devastated and he said ‘they didn’t even ask if I was ok, you’re the first one to ask me’, he said, ‘and they didn’t even get me a cup of tea or anything’.
“He said ‘they were too busy clearing the room of drugs before the officials come in’. And there was other volunteers who heard it, so we all made statements and I’ve got a crime report, which you’ve seen, and nothing ever come of it and I even asked if he’d been interviewed, the lad who’d said it, and they hadn’t even been in touch with him about it. ”
Matt added: “We see the police having to take on a variety of different roles and they don’t always do that as well as they might do, and this can lead to situations, if people have died in suspicious circumstances, but their lives are very complex and there’s a lot of different moving parts around that situation, it doesn’t get investigated.
“It gets deprioritised. I’ve got numerous examples of people I work with who get a crime reference number and there’s no follow up. You could say this is due to the police not being resourced or you could say its due to stigma, and we do hear lots of reports of people who go through homelessness, feeling that the police stigmatise them.”
A spokesperson for Cleveland Police: “Every report of a sudden death is taken extremely seriously. All deaths are thoroughly investigated by Cleveland Police, no matter the persons’ background or status.
“These investigations are carried out on behalf of, and reported to the Coroner, who in turn will hold police to account regarding the subsequent investigation.
“In line with all crimes, we prioritise our response and investigation in line with incident grading around threat, harm and risk; none of which would use a person’s homelessness as a relevant factor. Any homeless person is entitled to have their death investigated the same as anyone else.
“The death of the man referred to in 2022 was investigated thoroughly and was deemed not to be suspicious. Statements were gathered as part of that in.”
Terry is now receiving support from a local charity, but continues to live with the consequences of being a victim of violence because he was homeless, and the fear that one day further violence could take his life.
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