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A vicar has threatened to take legal action against a group of homeless people sleeping in his churchyard.

Canon Dr Andrew Bunch said he was “sympathetic” to people who set up camp among the gravestones of St Giles' Church's in Oxford.

But in a letter to the rough sleepers he warned the church would seek a court order if they did not move on.

The vicar told the BBC they were "causing us trouble" and he gave them the letter after they refused to leave when he asked in person

He said: “It had grown over the last three or four weeks and was becoming a bit of a problem.

"They were causing us trouble because we found that people were feeling threatened as they were walking through, and it was reported to me that needles had been found around that area.

"So we didn't feel that was the right place for that sort of activity, given the fact that we've got other homeless people in the area and also we've got young children."

The church provides space to homelessness charity Gatehouse and works with other rough sleepers, he added.

Saint Giles is the patron saint of beggars, disabled people and convicts. He was born in Greece in the 7th century and later moved to France where he lived as a hermit.