Grave erected for dead homeless man outside Debenhams

A cardboard gravestone has been erected outside the door of a shop to honor a homeless man who died outside.

Adam Zajac, 41, was found unconscious under his sleeping bag outside a Debenhams store in February last year.

The makeshift headstone, which was placed in Bristol city centre, reads: “RIP Adam Zajac 1977-2018. He died in this doorway as shoppers passed by. He was homeless. Remember him.”

Concerned people called the emergency services, but despite efforts by paramedics to revive Zajac, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy found he died of acute alcohol toxicity.

Earlier this month, a similar makeshift headstone was made for Deborah Morris, 48, which read: “Her body was found in a tent in this park. He was homeless. Remember her.”

Seventeen homeless people died in Bristol in 2017, accounting for around a third of homeless deaths in the whole of the South West.

According to the Office for National Statistics, Bristol also had the third highest number of deaths in England and Wales, alongside Lambeth, south London and Liverpool.
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