Heartbreaking pic shows homeless couple forced to sleep on dirty fly-tipped mattress in the middle of road
One resident who spotted the couple said he was 'gobsmacked' to find them sleeping on the mattress on a residential street in Ockendon
THIS heartbreaking photo has captured a homeless couple forced to sleep on a fly-tipped mattress in Ockendon, Essex.
Pictured clinging together on a residential street, one homeowner said the couple sleeping on the dirty mattress were "in a bad place".
The anonymous resident told that he was "gobsmacked" when he spotted the couple, aged in their late 20s, on South Road in Ockendon on Sunday morning.
He said: "They are in such a vulnerable place. I went over and woke the man up and said, 'Mate, you're sleeping in a road. Get yourself somewhere safe'.
"He said 'Yeah, OK' and went back to sleep. I feel sorry for them, they are in a bad place. He was so withdrawn."
The man said he believed the couple were both drug users and said the problems has "been getting worse" in the village.
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The image was circulated on social media and received mixed comments from some offering sympathies and others expressing anger.
But the anonymous resident added that he was"split" on the couple sleeping outside their homes.
He said: "I don't want it outside my house, no one does. If I thought I could trust them I would unlock my shed and they could stay in there."
He added that while it's "not nice" to see people on the street, "you don't want it outside your front door".
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