The spot in Harmood Street where Adrian Naylor was found

CAMPAIGNERS have warned too many people are being released from prison without the ser­vices needed to support them, after an inquest heard how a man who had been sleeping rough died shortly after leaving custody.

Adrian Naylor, 45, was found collapsed in Harmood Street, Camden Town, last October, slumped on a ledge near the entrance gates to Forge Place, St Pancras Coroner’s Court was told last week.

No next of kin for Mr Naylor had been found. Coroner Sarah Bourke said: “Mr Naylor had a history of alcohol problems and by 2025 appeared to be in the cycle of being homeless and then having short periods in prison, being released and then returning to prison. It’s not been possible to determine what happened between Mr Naylor’s release from prison on the October 2 through to his death on October 8.”

Elodie Berland, from Streets Kitchen, said many people experien­cing homelessness become trapped in a repeating cycle where they are criminalised for surviving on the streets, sent to prison without receiving proper support and then released with nowhere to go.

“We try to give them information so they know how to navigate the system,” she said. “But what sometimes happens is they get back into alcohol to survive the street, because it’s a nightmare, and then they get arrested again.

“The very tricky thing is some of them want to be arrested, because the services in prison allow them to get off drugs and alcohol as they hope they will get the right support there.

“But detention also has a terrible effect on people’s mental health. These people can be refugees, people who have lost their home or their families for various reasons and end up on the street. They are people trying to survive a broken system.”

PC Isaac Stacey told the court he found a blue bankcard and a prison ID card in Mr Naylor’s right pocket, and that he had had previous encounters with Mr Naylor.

Medical records for Mr Naylor were read in court held most recently by the prison healthcare services. Mr Naylor had been in Wormwood Scrubs prison last September.

“At that time he disclosed that his alcohol intake was 20 cans of beer a day and he had last drunk two days earlier,” Ms Bourke said.

“The plan was for him to have some moni­toring for intoxication withdrawal by prison staff and you can see over the following days he is reviewed on a daily basis and screened for signs of alcohol with­drawal and was given advice about abstinence from alcohol.”

Mr Naylor was released from prison for a final time on October 2, and six days later he was found dead in Harmood Street.

Ms Berland added: “No one cares about another death on the streets, it should never ever be normalised. You do become numb to it and you have to and right now we’re losing people on a monthly, weekly basis in Camden.”

An HM Prison and Probation Service spokesperson said: “We work with councils and charities to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness, including offering up to 12 weeks of accommod­ation on release and help into employment – part of our wider plan to cut reoffending and halve prison leaver homeless­ness by 2029.”