UK Council Finds Homeless People Are Sleeping In Cemetery

A Grade-II listed graveyard in Cambridge, UK is reportedly being misused as a makeshift sleeping area for homeless people.

Police say some are even moving tombstones at the Mill Road cemetery to create very hard mattresses.

Cambridge Council has been dealing with the issue for at least six years, with PC Alan Tregilgas saying when the issue was first seen: "It is not unusual to find drunken persons sleeping in this area and in some cases tombstone lids have been pushed off so they can sleep inside.

"One resident said she was shocked when she saw a male sitting on a grave with his trousers down injecting himself in his thigh in full view of everyone."

Volunteers are regularly sent in to the site to ensure there's no rubbish or dog poo anywhere, but they've been shocked at the number of used needles being left around graves.

More than 100 dirty syringes were picked up in the latter part of last year and these volunteers have already had to remove nearly 70 this year.

A Cambridge Council environmental report said: "Issues continue within the cemetery with regards to rough sleeping and needle finds. A walk-about is due to take place to discuss a way forward in resolving some of the issues in the cemetery.

"Three incidents of illegal camping were dealt with over this period. The cemetery continues to be a priority both for the enforcement team and for the area enforcement officer and street life officer.

"The street life officer for the enforcement team has dealt with nine incidents of abandoned property from people sleeping in the cemetery over this period. A total of 213 needles have been removed from the cemetery over this reporting period."

The council is looking at potentially opening up areas that have overgrown vegetation, which would be a much better place for homeless people rather than sleeping on top of people's graves and potentially damaging their tombstones.

Workers at Mill Road will be stepping up their patrols of the area to ensure that anyone caught shooting up or interfering with the gravesites will be promptly moved on.

It's a problem facing cemeteries around the world as tombs provide shelter from the harsh elements and requires around-the-clock surveillance.

Featured Image Credit: Cambridge News

Topics: council, Community, UK, Homeless

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie