Mum's powerful message as data shows four homeless people died each day last year

Four homelesspeople died each day last year, research has revealed, as a mum whose son was found dead earlier this year shared a powerful message.

Deaths of homeless people jumped 9% year-on-year and included 11 children – four of them babies. At least 1,611 deaths in the UK last year of people experiencing homelessness were recorded by a charity. This marks a rise from 1,474 in 2023 and 1,313 the year earlier, research by the Museum of Homelessness has found.

Yesterday, a bereaved mum whose kind-hearted son was found dead at a hostel earlier this year praised the research. Debby Wakeham, 76, said: “I think it’s very, very important because I think every human life is of infinite value…I think it’s absolutely horrible when people are marginalised…

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“And I don’t think people’s worth should be measured by the amount of money that they’ve got, or their status. In fact, I can think of several people with high status who are infinitely lower in my mind as human beings...”

Debby lost her son, Richard Sanders, in May – he was found lifeless, aged 56, next to his bed in south London, dying of a suspected heart attack. Richard, a former Big Issue seller, struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as mental illness.

University admin worker Debby, from Luton, Bedfordshire, said: “He had a fairly normal sort of childhood except that he started to sniff glue when he was about 11 years-old. And, unfortunately, I think that was the start of the problem. He just went rapidly more into drugs and alcohol. And then, in later years, he became mentally unwell and psychotic. But, before that, he did hold down some very good jobs in the construction industry and he was a very sought after forklift driver, he was very skilled at that.”

Towards the end of his life, Debby likened Richard to a Jekyll and Hyde character. “When he was Hyde he was … very paranoid and angry,” she said. She further explained: “But I think that was the drugs and the alcohol. Not physically violent but verbally. He would… get the idea people were after him.”

She added: “When he was Mr Jekyll, on the other hand, he was very, very knowledgeable about all kinds of stuff. He had a very, very inquiring mind and he used to do a lot of research…” Debbie described her son, a divorcee, as “very kind”, telling how he “loved animals”.

The Museum of Homelessness’ director, Matthew Turtle, said “Our investigation shows how homeless people continue to be deeply failed. We are calling for urgent action from the government to alleviate this crisis.”

It comes after the government's Homelessness minister, Rushanara Ali, quit earlier this year after it emerged she evicted tenants from her property before hiking the rent.

Of those homeless children who died last year, four were under one, four were aged between one and nine, and two children were between 15 and 17, while another's age was unknown. The charity’s figures cover people sleeping rough but also those placed in emergency accommodation or other insecure settings. Deaths were verified by Freedom of Information request, coroners’ report, charity or by a family member, the museum said.

The 2024 death toll works out at an average of four fatalities every day. The Museum of Homelessness said last year 44% of all the deaths in its data were drug or alcohol-related. There were 1,142 deaths in England, 211 in Northern Ireland, 168 in Scotland and 90 in Wales.

Total deaths in Scotland and Wales fell year-on-year but Northern Ireland and England both had increases. The biggest rises were in the south west, east midlands and the east of England.