![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/92004472_1750437217375736_r.jpg\")
The charred remains of homeless man Dave’s tent after it was destroyed in a suspected arson(Image: Go Fund Me)<\/p>\nHis tent was completely destroyed<\/p>\n
17:00, 08 Jul 2025Updated 17:15, 08 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
The charred remains of homeless man Dave’s tent after it was destroyed in a suspected arson(Image: Go Fund Me)<\/p>\n
A Bristol man sleeping rough has lost all of his possessions after the tent he was living in was burned to ashes in an apparent arson attack. The man, known as Dave, lost everything including irreplaceable sentimental photos when his tent was burned down last month.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Dave was unharmed in the incident. He had been living in a tent near the Shallows in Saltford for the past few years after falling on tough times.<\/p>\n
But on Sunday, June 22, he returned to his tent to discover it had been completely destroyed in an arson attack. Police are investigating, but a lack of CCTV in the area has hindered their efforts to catch the perpetrators.<\/p>\n
The apparently deliberate attack on Dave\u2019s tent is one of a string of probable arsons targeting homeless people around Bristol in recent months. In February, police and fire services were called to Clifton Downs<\/a> in response to a caravan being set alight.<\/p>\n A blaze also broke out at a homeless encampment in Castle Park<\/a> in September 2024. A spokesperson for Avon Fire and Rescue<\/a> Service confirmed that fire was believed to have been started deliberately.<\/p>\n The troubling trend has emerged alongside a new census which reported hundreds more women could be sleeping rough in Bristol<\/a> than official government figures suggest. Several parts of Bristol have been dealing with a worsening number of suspected arsons so far this year.<\/p>\n Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Community leaders and local councillors in East Bristol called a public meeting at the end of June in response to an escalating number of fires<\/a> in Fishponds, Oldbury Court and Frome Vale. Members of the public have banded together to raise money for Dave, and to draw attention to the callous crime in the hope those responsible will be brought to justice.<\/p>\n A Go Fund Me page set up in support of Dave has so far raised nearly \u00a31,000. Fundraiser organiser Connie Allen said she had been encouraged by the generosity of the public, despite the horrible misfortune which had befallen Dave.<\/p>\n \u201cDave isn\u2019t really the \u2018imposing on you\u2019 type and feels a bit embarrassed by very kind charitable donations,\u201d she said. \u201cThe compassionate response from people has restored my faith in humanity somewhat.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Allen said Dave had helped her when she was going through tough times herself. \u201cHe\u2019s just got a heart of gold,\u201d Ms Allen said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it when I heard what had happened to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone with information about the crime can report the issue to Avon and Somerset Police via their website.<\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp group<\/a>Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His tent was completely destroyed 17:00, 08 Jul 2025Updated 17:15, 08 Jul 2025 The charred remains of homeless…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,18680,381,748,188,10296,393,4884,6332,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-249520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-avon-fire-and-rescue","10":"tag-bristol","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-east-bristol","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-homelessness","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114820770920752433","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}