A heroin-laced spliff has ruined months of hard work by a homeless man in Liverpool who has been battling to turn his life around.
The homeless man has been known to outreach workers for several years, but had been getting over a heroin addiction and working to get his life back on track in recent years when disaster struck.
Michelle Langan, who runs the Papercup Project homeless charity, met the man last night on her group's regular rounds around the city centre.
She explained: "Right at the end of our round, I spotted a familiar face we haven’t seen for a while, a lad I used to write about loads.
"We haven’t seen him for two years and the last time we saw him he was in a really bad way, and we knew he had gone to hospital and almost lost his leg."
Ms Langan said that last night the man was back on the streets in the same place he used to sit in the past.
She said: "He told us how he had almost died. He spent 22 weeks in hospital and almost lost his leg. Got better, got clean, was back in contact with his family, his kids, and got a job."
She said the man had started to "slip back into normal life" when something happened that made everything unravel again for him - and leave him back in a desperate position.
She added: "A few months ago, a ‘friend’ gave him a spliff - laced with smack, enough to get him back into it.
"So now everything he built up has slipped away again and he is back in a sleeping bag in the rain.
"We were all made up to see him, but devastated that we did. Now we just have to try every week when we see him to get him back to that place. Gutted for him."
It wasn't the only meeting Michelle and her team had last night that left them feeling worried about the situation regarding Liverpool's rough sleepers.
She said: "Another guy came to see us, he now has a flat for £400 a month.
"But housing benefit only covers £250 so he will probably be on the streets soon."
She added: "In fact the the first three people asking us for food - all have flats, all have benefit sanctions so no money for food."
