A Dover veteran who has been camping outside the council offices in Whitfield says he is staying put until he gets a home.

Robert Shawe, 43, has been living outside the Dover District Council offices since September 21 and is determined to continue his protest.

As a former Serviceman, serving in the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment from 1993 until 2000, he said he should be given priority housing but has been let down by the system.

He said: “Under the military covenant I should be a priority. It’s their owns rules but they aren’t following them. I have talked to the council but they keep telling me I’m non-priority.”

“Under the military covenant I should be a priority. It’s their owns rules but they aren’t following them. I have talked to the council but they keep telling me I’m non-priority”

The council said it had offered Mr Shawe housing which he rejected.

Dover District Council does uphold the voluntary pledge to help veterans, known as the Armed Forces Covenant.

He said he was offered a shared home in Folkestone which would mean spending all his food money visiting his children in Dover.

Mr Shawe said it was claimed he lost his home in Dixon Road because he was growing cannabis but he said he was undertaking community service for this one year later when he was turfed out.

He said he had to leave because he breached his tenancy agreement by having his ex-partner move in.

He said: “I couldn’t find anything, so I said I will live on your doorstep then until you find me a house.”

Mr Shawe is originally from Essex but was based at Connaught Barracks in Dover and stayed in the town after he met his ex-partner and had two children.

He served in Northern Ireland and Kosovo and said this led to a lot of stress which was why
he started using marijuana.

He was given a suspended sentence in July last year after 86 plants were found growing in his home.

Mr Shawe said: “I’ve done my bit for the country but you do one bad thing and that’s it.

“It was seven years serving this country but that doesn’t count for nothing because I grew cannabis for my personal use.

“I’m staying here until they sort it out.”