Conservative MP Mike Weatherley has hit back at claims that he is personally responsible for the death of a homeless man who froze outside an abandoned house in Essex, saying that “a typical squatter is middle-class, web-savvy, legally minded, university-educated and, most importantly, society-hating.”
Weatherley, who introduced legislation into parliament to criminalise squatting, was the target of an anonymous website “Is Mike Weatherley Dead Yet?”, which said that the MP’s legislation was responsible for the death of thirty-five-year-old Daniel Gauntlett in Aylesford, Kent. Gauntlett had previously had trouble with the police when he tried to break into an abandoned bungalow for shelter, and apparently took the decision to sleep outside the property in order to avoid breaking the law. He froze to death overnight.
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