Homeless man freezes to death in tent near church weeks after being discharged from hospital

A homeless man has died in his tent near a church amid freezing temperatures, weeks after being discharged from hospital with pneumonia.

The man, known only as Ben and said to have been 53, was found dead at around 8.40am on Tuesday near St Swithun’s Church in Retford, Nottinghamshire.

Police said they had been called by East Midlands Ambulance Service to a report of the "sudden death". Officers said a file would now be prepared for the coroner.

In the days before his death, local Scouts leader Hazel Newstead had stopped to have conversations with Ben over the church wall, and had given him a sleeping mat and tinned food.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Newstead said the 53-year-old, who had been a bricklayer by trade but had reportedly worked less since the death of his girlfriend seven years ago, was a “friendly” man who was “happy to chat”.

“He seemed really nice and friendly and happy to chat over the brick wall. His sleeping bag was hung on a tree during the day to dry it out. He took a camping mat and some tinned food from us, saying he had a small cooker. It seemed he’d been sleeping rough for a while”, she said.

“He had only been here for about a week. He said he had come out of hospital on 14 February, where he’d been treated for pneumonia. Before that I think he had been in another church sleeping in the door way.

“He didn’t smell of alcohol or drugs and he said he stayed off that stuff. Other people in the area who had known him for longer said he didn’t tolerate that at all. His death is very unfortunate and very sad.”

Ms Newstead said Ben had offered to help redo some brickwork in the church and that it “didn’t seem like he’d given up”.

She added: “I can’t help wondering whether I could have done more personally – I’m disabled and limited physically, but the guilt is there, as there didn’t seem to be anywhere else for him to go.

"He was bothering nobody where he was. Probably hardly anyone knew he was there.”

Bassetlaw District Council opened a severe weather night shelter over the weekend but residents of Retford said it was 10 miles outside the town, meaning some rough sleepers were unwilling to go there.

Following Ben's death, they set up their own homeless shelter to provide more accessible beds.

Simon Greaves, leader of Bassetlaw District Council, said: “We were all saddened to learn about this tragedy and had put provisions in place in an attempt to prevent something like this occurring.

“The council has been providing a severe weather night shelter every night since Saturday 24 February where anyone in Bassetlaw who is homeless can get out of the cold and into a warm and safe environment for the night.

“Outreach workers from Framework, the council, the police and a number of other agencies are in regular contact with people who are sleeping rough and have made them aware of the shelter.”

Cllr Greaves said free transport had been offered to people known to be homeless, regardless of where they were currently living.

“Some people have taken up this offer and have used the shelter. Regrettably other individuals have made a personal choice to decline this offer”, he said.

“We are aware of between 15 and 20 people known to be on the streets in Worksop and around five people in the Retford area who are known to be homeless [...] Up until Thursday evening the Shelter has been used by a total of 15 people since it opened last weekend.”