The body of a homeless man was reportedly left lying in the street for three and a half hours, as people walked past, before anyone took action.

Mark Mummery, 45, was found dead on a pavement in Grimbsy on Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures dipping as low as 5C. He is feared to have died after a suspected drug overdose.

Dozens of people walked past his lifeless body without taking any notice until a woman eventually stopped and called emergency services at around 1.15pm, according to Grimsby Live.

Initial investigations suggest he died as early as 10am that day.

One local resident told the online newspaper: “I was in between jobs in work and I was walking down Roberts Street when I saw the man’s body.

“Nobody seemed to be taking any notice of him at all, even though there was clearly something wrong, he was just lying there lifeless.

“I have seen the man around the area and I know that he has problems with drugs and drink, but that shouldn’t matter at all, he is a human and he deserved some compassion, rather than just being ignored.”

A postmortem examination of Mr Mummery’s body was due to take place on Monday.

But his death draws into sharp focus the devastating consequences of the UK’s spiralling homelessness figures, which show rough sleeping has surged by 165 per cent in the past eight years, hitting 4,677 last year. Experts say this data underestimates the scale of the problem.

Separately, a data analysis by the Museum for Homelessness earlier this year revealed a homeless person dies on average every 19 hours in the UK, prompting renewed calls for the government to address the “sheer lack” of affordable social housing across the country.

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