Camden Gardens remains locked up and out of use

HOMELESS people who had been sleeping in a Camden Town park have been displaced from their tents and belongings after the death of a man from stab wounds.

Detectives investigating the killing of Shaun Latimer-Kayser, 44, in Camden Gardens – the green space underneath railway arches – this week charged Dwight Merrick, 35, with murder.

Mr Latimer-Kayser died in hospital on September 27 and the park has been locked to the public since then.

For years, people experiencing homelessness have used the brick viaduct for shelter and last week neighbours suggested more should have been done to make the gardens safer for everyone.

Elodie Berland, a volunteer with the grassroots charity Streets Kitchen, said: “It’s a mixed community in Camden Gardens depending on the arches where people sleep.

“A lot of people who find themselves on the streets are working, and end up on the street and stay on the street to get some sense of safety.

“Streets Kitchen would go into the gardens and offer support to the people living there as the services think it’s a crime hotspot and a dangerous area.

“That’s the general attitude that Camden Council and their services have towards homelessness anyway – not approaching the people as humans but as criminals and people with issues – it was very clear they have that attitude with Camden Gardens.”

A police cordon was lifted after forensics teams probed the park but the area remains closed by barriers and patrolled by private security and dogs.

Outreach workers at Streets Kitchen say it is still unclear whether the people who had been staying there will be able to return to collect their belongings, or if they will be stored somewhere.

On Saturday morning, Streets Kitchen completed a support session which would normally have started in the park.

Ms Berland said: “We’ve had no communication whatsoever so I don’t know who is getting support and who isn’t.

“The moment we heard about the incident in Camden Gardens we tried to give support to the people who have their temporary homes in there because obviously there is the very tragic death of someone in those gardens and there is also the very tragic situation of quite a few people who have their homes and belongings there and suddenly do not have access to any of that.”

Flowers left at the gates

She added: “We haven’t managed to speak to the people affected as they have been displaced. We know of one person who was looking for a sleeping bag and we managed to accommodate for that. I would say the people who had been living there must be incredibly frightened at the moment.”

Tonight (Thursday) there will be a vigil outside Downing Street for those who have died while homeless this year.

According to the Museum of Homelessness 1,611 people died while homeless in the UK in 2024, an 9 per cent increase since 2023 and the highest number of deaths since the project began in 2017.

The actual figure will be much higher as many deaths are not reported.

The New Journal understands that Mr Latimer-Kayser may have temporarily been sleeping in Camden Gardens.

Ms Berland said: “Every year the number of people that die whilst being homeless gets higher and higher. I’m so tired of losing friends, it’s just relentless. What we are doing is palliative care and I think it’s very important to talk about that.”

Streets Kitchen are appealing for donations for the winter: socks, underwear, sleeping bags, tents, jumpers, coats, hats, scarves and gloves.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “We’re doing everything we can to support people who were previously sleeping rough in Camden Gardens. Our outreach team is providing housing and welfare support and so far we’ve placed one person into accommodation and others have been offered accommodation or other support.

“Personal items have been safely stored, and we’re directly assisting people to collect these and notices have been placed around the area. To retrieve these items, our teams first needed to ensure the correct safety measures were in place.

“The park will remain closed for the foreseeable future. We of course want in due course to reopen the space so that local residents can use it again.”