Chloe Leighton is crammed into the disabled toilet of a busy pub, pleading on the phone with her social worker to find her a place to stay for the night.
She records the conversation because she doesn’t trust anyone anymore. What makes her situation even more perilous is that Chloe is disabled and autistic.
Until recently, the 33-year-old’s life was happy and stable.
Image: Chloe Leighton ended up homeless after her father was unable to care for her
Then last November, her father had a stroke and was unable to care for her, leaving her alone.
“Dad would keep me safe from all these people. He was the barrier,” she says.
Due to her vulnerabilities, her local council in Buckinghamshire had a legal duty to find her emergency accommodation and social care support – except she says that hasn’t happened.
At first, the council, then friends and family paid for hotel accommodation, but the money ran out and now Chloe has nowhere to go.
“Nobody knows what to do with me,” she explains. “I fall through the gaps.”
Image: Chloe with her father
‘Mould and antisocial behaviour’
The law says that any accommodation must be suitable for Chloe’s needs, but if she refuses somewhere, the council doesn’t have to do anymore to house her – but it can still support her.
So when the council offered her a place in a hostel with a bad reputation in a rural location she refused it.
Image: Chloe was offered accommodation here by the council
Around 160,000 households live in temporary accommodation in the UK – and even though it costs councils £2.3bn per year – the quality of it is often poor.
Sky News saw the hostel Chloe was offered. Residents there told us there was mould and antisocial behaviour.
They urged anyone offered a place there to turn it down.
Chloe struggled to arrange a visit to the hostel and wasn’t confident her social care needs would be met there.
A few weeks after she refused the hostel, the council wrote to her, explaining that they no longer have an obligation to find her accommodation.
The pub she was sheltering in had closed. Her friends and family could no longer pay for hotels.
With neither side backing down, Chloe faced her first night on the streets.
Image: Chloe, pictured, took shelter in a pub when she was left with nowhere to go
That’s where I found her, scared and alone in the cold.
“I don’t know what to do, I’ve never been like this before,” she said.
I decided to phone the police.
While I was on hold, Chloe received a call from the out-of-hours housing department, who were made aware that we were filming the exchange.
Image: Nick Martin phoned the police after finding Chloe on the streets
Chloe’s disability needs not met
After weeks of refusing to give her alternative accommodation, she was offered a place at a hotel a short distance away and she accepted.
But when she arrived, there was a problem.
The room wasn’t wheelchair accessible.
She couldn’t use the toilet in the room or anywhere else in the hotel.
Her fears of not being given suitable accommodation were realised. It was 3am.
Image: Chloe was unable to access the bathroom in the room she was offered
A Buckinghamshire Council spokesperson said: “We stand by the actions of our staff and as an organisation in regard to the content featured in this piece. We take our duty of care extremely seriously in regard to any resident who presents to us with housing and/or social care need and follow process and procedures rigorously and to the letter.
“We cannot discuss details of any individual case but do recognise the incredibly difficult circumstances any individual or household will be experiencing if they have come to us for help. We keep the person at the heart of all we do, doing what we can to tailor our support offer to their individual needs.
“Some cases can be long and complex, involving various stages that may include an emergency response, other offers of support and ultimately, we aim to provide a long-term solution that meets the needs of the individual or household. At all points in the process, any individual or household has a right to decline any support or options put to them. In such circumstances the council continues to work with the individual or household to seek a solution to meet their needs, within our statutory duties and the resources available to us.”
Last year council adult social care budgets were overspent by nearly £600m, according to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
A government spokesperson told us they had “inherited a devastating housing crisis and a social care system” that they are committed to fixing.
They pointed to their provision of the “largest-ever cash boost in homeless prevention services”, adding that they were also “delivering £26bn for health and social care” and had appointed Baroness Louise Casey to lead an independent commission “to build a social care system that is fair and affordable for all”.
Image: Chloe says the system is broken
Our few days with Chloe reveal a complicated story.
It’s about what happens when someone with complex needs comes face to face with a social care system that is chronically underfunded.
Britain’s most-wanted fugitive is still on the run – exactly 20 years after the fatal shooting of a young mother of three.
Kevin Parle is a suspect in the murder of Lucy Hargreaves, 22, who was shot dead at her home in Liverpool before the house was set on fire on 3 August 2005.
Since then, after many appeals for information, there has been no confirmed sighting, word or trace of him.
Two decades on, Ms Hargreaves’ family have had no justice. Two young men prosecuted for her murder had charges dropped when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against them.
In a statement marking the anniversary of her death, they said: “The way we lost Lucy is not something families can ever truly come to terms with – it is still incredibly difficult and painful to think about.
“Over the past 20 years, people will have talked with family and friends. A number of people were contacted by males using a phone that was stolen along with a vehicle used in Lucy’s murder.
“We appeal directly to them to please come forward. Now is the time.”
Image: Police prediction of how Kevin Parle has aged since 2005. Pic: Merseyside Police
Three men burst into Lucy’s home 20 years ago today, shot her dead as she slept on a sofa, and set alight the duvet she’d been sleeping under.
It’s believed the gang were looking for her boyfriend Gary Campbell, who was upstairs. He fled from a window with their two-year-old daughter and then tried in vain to save Ms Hargreaves.
Mr Campbell had allegedly been a passenger in a stolen car that had hit and killed a young boy 12 years earlier, supposedly the motive for the shooting. He denied he was in the car at the time.
Image: Ms Hargreaves with her three children
Howard Rubbery, head of the Serious Crime Review Unit at Merseyside Police said: “The family remain absolutely devastated by Lucy’s death.
“It’s important to note Lucy is an absolutely innocent victim. She’s not from a family of criminality. She wasn’t involved in criminality.
“The hunt for Kevin Parle is very much on, and we ask anybody with information, anybody who is close to Parle and knows where he is, to please come forward.
“There were three males responsible for this offence and we are looking for justice for Lucy’s family in relation to all three.
“I do believe that there are people out there who have yet to speak to the police, even though it’s 20 years on, who hold information that’s absolutely vital to our investigation.”
Police believe Parle, now in his 40s, fled to Spain where he hid among the vast expat community with criminal help.
Several years later, I tracked his movements to a holiday complex near Torrevieja, where staff convinced me he had stayed there for several weeks.
Image: Former detective Peter Bleksley says Parle is being protected
‘Huge value to organised crime’
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley, who recently spent four years on a personal hunt for Parle, also visited the complex and said: “He was bold and he was brash and he had a girlfriend at one point.
“The police actually should have captured him there, but they were too late.”
He claimed he nearly caught up with Parle at a villa elsewhere in Spain, but spooked him into disappearing again.
Mr Bleksley hosted an award-winning podcast and wrote a book in which he chronicled his manhunt.
He said: “Kevin Parle has remained hidden because he is funded, protected, looked after and of huge value to global, serious and organised crime.”
Parle can’t be hard to spot – he’s well-built, 6ft 5in tall, red-haired with a face scar and, originally at least, has a Liverpool accent. Of course, he might be dead.
Mr Bleksley said: “I can think of many reasons why certain criminals would want to get rid of Kevin Parle because he could, in terms of evidence about the cases that he’s wanted for, should he flip and become a witness for the Crown, be highly damaging for a lot of very tasty criminals.”
Image: 16-year-old Liam Kelly was shot dead a year before Ms Hargreaves. Pic: Merseyside Police
Parle is also wanted in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Liam Kelly, who was shot dead over an alleged £200 debt in June 2004, a year before Lucy’s death. Parle was arrested and questioned, but then freed on bail.
There have been reports of the fugitive in Australia and Dubai, but nothing to corroborate any of them.
If he’s alive and if no one is prepared to shop him, what might lead to his capture?
“I think when he has a fallout with those who have guarded him, funded him, fed him, put a roof over his head and all of that, maybe even paid for his plastic surgery that could have altered his appearance,” Mr Bleksley said.
“When he finally has a fallout, when he’s no longer of use, then perhaps that will be the day that somebody goes, Peter, he’s here.”
Several demonstrators have been detained after rival groups faced off over a hotel accommodating asylum seekers in north London, with police breaking up brief clashes.
The Metropolitan Police has since imposed conditions on the protest and counter-protest outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington.
The protest was organised by local residents under the banner “Thistle Barbican needs to go – locals say no”.
The group of several hundred people waved union flags and banners, and one man chanted: “Get these scum off our streets.”
Image: Anti-immigration protesters waved Union Jack flags. Pic: PA
A larger group staged a counter demonstration to voice support for asylum seekers, bearing a banner that read: “Refugees are welcome.”
People inside the hotel, believed to be migrants, watched on, with some waving and blowing kisses from the windows.
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Image: People believed to be asylum seekers waved the hotel windows. Pic: PA
Image: Pro-immigration protesters gathered by the Thistle City Barbican Hotel. Pic: PA
A man wearing an England football shirt was detained by police after getting into an altercation with officers.
There have been nine arrests so far, seven of which were for breaching conditions police put on the protests under the Public Order Act.
Rival groups separated by police
Another protest was scheduled in Newcastle on Saturday, outside The New Bridge Hotel, as anti-migrant sentiment ripples through some communities around the country, also flaring up recently in Epping.
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Last week: Protesters divided over migrant hotels
The counter-protest in London was organised by local branches of Stand Up To Racism, and supported by former Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn.
Other community groups including Finsbury Park Mosque and Islington Labour Party were also involved.
Groups online that backed the original protest include “Patriots of Britain” and “Together for the Children”.
At one point, a large group of masked protesters dressed in black, calling themselves anti-fascists, appeared from a side street and marched towards the rival group outside the hotel.
The two groups briefly clashed before police rushed in to separate them.
Image: Pic: PA
Image: Supporters of local protest group ‘Thistle Barbican needs to go – locals say no’. Pic: PA
Why are asylum hotels used?
The government is legally required to provide accommodation and subsistence to destitute asylum seekers while their claims are being decided, most of whom are prohibited from working.
A jump in the use of hotels since 2020 has been attributed to the impacts of the COVID pandemic, a backlog in unresolved asylum cases, and an increase in the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
However, the number of asylum seekers living in hotels has fallen recently, from 38,079 at the end of 2024 to 32,345 at the end of March 2025, according to the Refugee Council.
How police tried to keep groups apart
The police imposed conditions on both groups in London to prevent “serious disorder” and minimise disruption to the community.
Those in the anti-asylum hotel protest were told to remain within King Charles Square, and to gather not before 1pm and wrap up by 4pm.
Those in the counter-protest were to required to stay in an area in Lever Street, and assemble only between 12pm and 4pm, but were still in eye and ear shot of the other group.
Chief Superintendent Clair Haynes, in charge of the policing operation, said: “We have been in discussions with the organisers of both protests in recent days, building on the ongoing engagement between local officers, community groups and partners.
“We understand that there are strongly held views on all sides.
“Our officers will police without fear or favour, ensuring those exercising their right to protest can do so safely, but intervening at the first sign of actions that cross the line into criminality.”
Meanwhile, the protest in Newcastle was promoted by online posts saying it was “for our children, for our future”.
The “stop the far right and fascists in Newcastle” counter-protest was organised by Stand Up To Racism at the nearby Laing Art Gallery.
A man has been remanded into custody charged with child cruelty offences after allegedly lacing sweets with sedatives.
Jon Ruben, 76, of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday after youngsters fell ill at a summer camp in Stathern, Leicestershire.
He has been charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
The charges relate to three boys at the camp between 25-29 July.
Image: The scene in Stathern, Leicestershire. Pic: PA
Ruben spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.
Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a camp being held at Stathern Lodge, near Melton in Leicestershire, last Sunday.
Officers said paramedics attended the scene and eight boys – aged between eight and 11 – were taken to hospital as a precaution, as was an adult. They have since been discharged.
Police said the “owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident”.
Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, after officers initially reported the incident as having happened on Monday, only to later amend it to Sunday.
It is still unclear when officers responded and whether that is why the watchdog referral has been made.
Ruben will next appear at Leicester Crown Court on 29 August.