Torbay Council and Devon and Cornwall Police have said the emergence of a ‘fake homeless’ campaign in Torquay is dangerous encourages vigilantism, and that it should stop with immediate effect.

The campaign, which is being organised amongst others by Ashley Sims, has seen homeless people in the town photographed, checked out with relevant charities, and those that they call professional beggars have been threatened that if they don’t leave the town, they will expose their identities.

He told BBC Spotlight that of the 17 photographed people, only two were genuine street homeless.

Humanity Torbay have launched a new campaign called Killing with Kindness where they are asking people not to give money to beggars or homeless people directly but to homeless charities who the genuine homeless go to for food, clothing and help.

But Torbay Council and Devon and Cornwall Police have criticised the campaign of targeting 'fake homeless', said that it encourages vigilantism, and already has seen a genuine homeless person identified as a ‘fake homeless’.

Mr Sims on Spotlight said: “One thing these people don’t like is being photographed or filmed, so wave gone and done that. We have identified who is genuine with the relevant charities and their names and if they are homeless or not, and five of them of them have told us they won’t go begging anymore if I don’t put their photo up

“Out of the 17 photographed, only two were genuine street homeless.”

On social media, he added: “Within the last 24 hours, five have agreed to leave town begging if we don’t expose them, WAIT FOR IT, to protect their benefits.”

But the campaign has been criticised by both the council and the police.

A Torbay Council spokesperson said: “We have very real concern as to the consequences of the ‘Fake Homeless’ campaign which is currently being undertaken. Torbay Council knows that an individual’s circumstances can frequently change, sometimes on a daily basis, meaning that being able to make a judgement on whether someone is street homeless or not is in many cases a fact that will remain accurate for only a limited period of time.

“We are already aware of an individual wrongly identified as ‘fake homeless,’ who has then been the subject of abuse via social media. The actions being proposed by this campaign encourages vigilantism and enables anyone so-minded to target people, and is therefore unacceptable.

“Such behaviours cannot be supported or condoned on any level by Torbay Council. We have asked that the campaign be halted, and have invited those involved to meet to discuss how to work together in the future.

“Torbay Council, along with our partners, takes our responsibility towards supporting vulnerable members of the community very seriously. We work in partnership with a range of organisations as part of the Torbay End Street Homelessness (TESH) campaign.

“With our partners we carry out a range activities including locating and providing a warm and safe place for rough sleepers to sleep, providing additional accommodation over the winter period, continued support and housing advice to try and prevent the cycle of homelessness, and addressing a range of complex issues which often accompany homelessness.”

Si Jenkinson, Torquay Sector Inspector, Devon and Cornwall Police, added: “We are aware of the emergence of the ‘fake homeless’ campaign in Torquay currently circulating social media. The dangerous practice of ‘outing’ people as professional criminals based on often unverifiable information fails to acknowledge the very complex vulnerabilities and chaotic lives of those concerned.

(Image: Rom Preston-Ellis)

“We in no way condone this activity and take the view the campaign should cease with immediate effect. We support a multi-agency approach to addressing Torquay’s town centre problems and encourage those driving the campaign to engage with police and local authority to support a safe and effective mechanism to address these issues.”

When the Killing with Kindness campaign was launched last week, Ellie Waugh, chairman and founder of Humanity Torbay, said: “The homeless in Torbay are really being victimised in the past couple of weeks. People have been profoundly awful to them and that can’t be allowed to happen so we had to do something drastic and quick.

“We see who the genuine homeless people are they are telling us the dreadful things the dreadful things that have been happening to them by people think they are ‘professional’ beggars because of the recent stories in the press.

“It’s really causing lots of problems and none should be treated like that so we have launched Killing with Kindness to ask people not to give money to beggars or homeless people directly but to homeless charities who the genuine homeless go to for food, clothing and help.”

To help spread the word, the charity has put up posters and handed out collection boxes to educate people how best they can help the homeless.