A CAMPAIGNER says Worcester's authorities have washed their hands of a rough sleeper found dead in a tent, refusing to conduct a review into his death.

Former rough sleeper Hugo Sugg is 'shocked and outraged' no review will be launched unless another rough sleeper dies following the death of his friend, Cardon Banfield, found dead in a tent.

Peter Pinfield, chairman of Healthwatch Worcestershire, described the decision as 'unbelievable' and joined Mr Sugg in calling for a safeguarding review.

Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board maintains services in the county did not have enough contact with Mr Banfield to justify a review despite Mr Sugg publishing proof that Mr Banfield applied for housing benefit in January 2014.

Mr Sugg said: "The lack of any review into Cardon’s death is shocking and irresponsible.

"Learning lessons to stop this happening again should be a priority - although someone in the city council now states they won’t investigate anything until another rough sleeper has died on our streets in Worcester. I am outraged on behalf of his family that authorities have tried to let Cardon’s tragic case go by the wayside.

"He was a citizen, he was a person. Had this been a middle class 16-year-old boy from King's or RGS, partially mummifying in a tent on the banks of the Severn - would it have the same reaction? Of course not, there would have been national outrage. Why is Cardon any different?"

Mr Pinfield said: “It’s unbelievable that a homeless man can die in Worcester and no one in authority appears to want to take action to discover how his death might have been prevented to help others in the future.

"The death of Cardon Banfield is very unfortunate. Until we look at how he died, how are we going to make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else?

“We’re pleased that Hugo Sugg has raised this issue with us. We would like to see a review so we can see whether we have lessons to learn from what happened."

The body of the 74-year-old was found in a tent near Worcestershire County Cricket Club on July 5, 2016. He was so badly decayed he could only be identified from his DNA.

A spokesman for Worcester City Council said: "Following Mr Banfield’s death the Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board looked into his case and the city council housing team provided information on their dealings with him."

In December 2016 Kathy McAteer, chairman of Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board described Mr Banfield’s death as ‘a very sad situation’ but no safeguarding adult review (SAR) was launched.

A SAR is a 'multi-agency review process' which seeks to determine what agencies could have done differently to prevent harm or death. In her statement the chairman added: "The Case Review Sub-Group of the Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board have reviewed the referral and made the decision not to carry out a Safeguarding Adults Review as, firstly, Mr Banfield was deemed to, at his own choice, only have had very limited involvement with services in Worcestershire.

“Secondly, it became very clear from the information gathered that he had actually spent very little time in Worcestershire prior to his death. It would therefore not be appropriate to commission a SAR as we do not believe there to have been a lost multi-agency opportunity to work with Mr Banfield.”

A city council spokesperson said: “In June 2017 the national charity Homeless Link issued best practice guidelines which say that in the event of a rough sleeper being found dead and no Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) being undertaken, there should be a local review.

"In the future we will follow these guidelines.”

The news comes another homeless man said he feared he could die on the streets.