Saturday, 16 Nov 2024

Grieving rough sleepers remember homeless man who was found dying at Parliament

A homeless man who was found dying next to Parliament’s revolving door has been identified by friends as a kitchen worker from Hungary.

Grieving rough sleepers today displayed a photo of the man they named as Gyula Remes, 43, yards from where MPs access the Commons through a Tube underpass.

Floral tributes were laid in Greggs cups and more than £1,500 raised for charity after the man was the second to be found dying at the same spot in one year.

Police found the man at 11.30pm on Tuesday and he died a few hours later in hospital.

He has not been formally named but four rough sleepers this morning said the below photo was of him.

A fellow rough sleeper said Mr Remes had smoked the dangerous drug Spice before he was found. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

It came as official statistics today estimated 597 homeless people died in England and Wales last year, a 24% rise over five years.

Fellow rough sleepers at Westminster today said they knew very little about Mr Remes’ background.

However, they said Mr Remes had been sleeping in the underpass for three months and had just gained work as a chef’s assistant in a nearby restaurant.

Friend Gabor Kasza said he and Mr Remes – who pronounced his name ‘Julius’ – were both from the Hungarian city of Pécs.

They met for the first time while homeless in London, after 43-year-old Mr Remes is previously said to have lived in Scotland and Malta.

Mr Kasza, 22, said of the night he was discovered: "I saw him laying on the floor and his hand was blue."

He said Mr Remes was "bubbly", adding: "He would give you food and say ‘this is for you’."

Another friend, who gave her name as Dawn and said she had recently left prison after stealing a bottle of wine, said she would miss his snoring.

She said: "I went to prison, came back and he was sleeping upstairs [in the street].

"I told him to come down here because it was warmer."

She added: "He was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous… I used to get these massages off him. He was perfect, beautiful.

"To make sure I was okay he used to sleep against that wall and watch me all night."

The female friend condemned passers-by who she claimed "walked through here to there and he was blue on the floor" while she slept.

Asked how she responded to Parliament – currently engulfed in a row over whether Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa May a "stupid woman" – she said: "I don’t think they care.

"They need to get Theresa May out".

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "At around 11.30pm on December 18, we were alerted by officers from British Transport Police to a man collapsed in an underpass near to Westminster underground station.

"First aid was administered by the British Transport Police officers and the man was taken to a central London hospital, where he died in the early hours of December 19.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious."

The death has now been referred to the coroner.

MPs said they "ashamed" after the discovery.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "Commons Chamber packed out with Tory MPs shouting & bawling about words, which were never spoken.

"And yet a fellow human being dies on the doorstep of Parliament and they barely say a word. Shameful."

Staff in Parliament have set up a fundraising page for homeless charity Street Link which has raised more than £1,500.

It comes 10 months after a council outreach worker found a second homeless man dead yards from the doors of Parliament.           

Read More

Latest UK politics news

  • Corbyn denies calling May ‘stupid woman’
  • Universal Credit could be delayed AGAIN
  • Brexit immigration plans CONFIRMED
  • ‘Hypocrite’ MPs get free TV licences

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts