A HOMELESS man, who was sleeping in a churchyard, has thanked Petersfield people for their kindness and generosity, saying they have given him the inspiration to start rebuilding his life.

Mark Jones (48) came to Petersfield to escape drug dealers and a life of crime he says he was forced into, and ended up sleeping behind St Peter’s Church in The Square.

He arrived after leaving his “squalid” life in Bognor where had become mixed up with drug dealers, who reignited his heroin habit.

Although still taking prescribed heroin substitute, the artist, who grew up in Bordon, had been heroin-free for a number of years.

Then he tried to help a drug-taking friend by letting them stay in his flat.

Mark, who also is bi-polar, said: “The next thing I knew dealers were using my flat, and I was back using. It’s a soulless, horrible way to live, squalid, futile. I was living out of bins, shoplifting every day to get drug money, I was threatened by someone with a knife. I was in a very dark place.

“So I just left my flat and everything in it, my books, the driftwood and shells I had collected to decorate mirrors which I sold in an art gallery in Bosham.

“As a child, I had been to Petersfield and liked it, so I ended up here.

“People have been very kind and generous – someone left me a tent with some money in it, someone else made me a doctor’s appointment, the people in the church helped a lot, I can’t thank people enough.

“I don’t want to take heroin, and I have been clean since I came here, but I’m very weak and stopping has been rough. I’m not sleeping, or eating, much, and I feel very run down and low, it’s what happens.

“But the church has arranged for me to go to a farm near Shepton Mallet that helps people get back on their feet. There’s only a handful of people there and I’ll be working around the farm, it will give me a purpose and help rebuild my physical strength.

“I was married and free of drugs for seven years, and I’m determined to change my life now, I have got things I want to do.

“People here have been very kind, and being here has given me the breathing space and help I need to try and start rebuilding my life."