A homeless couple who were evicted from their emergency accommodation because they wouldn't give up their pets, have now lost their animals – but life is no better for them.

Alex Kurt, 35, and her partner Colin Boorman, 65, were initially living on a farm in Dartford, where they kept 23 chickens and a cat.

A sequence of events saw them lose most of their flock to thieves and then made homeless by the private landowner.

Dartford council found them emergency accommodation with private landlord Paramount Property Services in Maidstone, but when Paramount found they had a cat and a hen with them, they were evicted again.

They were provided with emergency accommodation by the Maidstone Winter Churches Shelter in the town centre's Travelodge hotel, but again their chicken was discovered and they were again evicted.

By this time, their cat Bob – perhaps disorientated by their frequent moves – had run off and is now living wild somewhere in Maidstone.

Ms Kurt said things then got worse.

She said: "We were evicted from the Travelodge, appropriately on Friday the 13th. We spent that night sleeping in the underpass by Maidstone Bridge."

The couple were hampered by having all their belongings with them in plastic sacks – everything that they had previously had in the Paramount property.

They tried to hide them in the multi-storey car park at the Broadway Centre, but in the morning were told by security to remove them.

During the course of transferring all the belongings – a task that only Ms Kurt could do as Mr Boorman was not well enough – their one remaining chicken, called Zero, was left unguarded for a moment, constrained in a cat-box. The cat-box and chicken were swiftly stolen.

Ms Kurt said: "I was distraught. As soon as I realised she had gone, I ran up and down the riverbank asking if people had seen anyone with a cat-box and a chicken inside it, but nobody had."

She said: "Zero was taken in broad daylight – it was around 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon – from the underpass.

"I tried reporting it to the police, but they didn't seem interested."

That night they were again bedding down in the underpass, when Mr Boorman, who has diabetes, began to shake uncontrollably.
Ms Kurt said: "Obviously nobody already in poor health like Colin should be sleeping on the streets."

She tried calling an ambulance, but said: "They asked if he was still breathing, and when I said yes, they said they wouldn't come."

The couple managed to get a taxi to take them to Maidstone Hospital, where Mr Boorman was treated in A&E for dehydration.

Ms Kurt returned to Maidstone to recover the couple's possessions.

She found a derelict caravan near the river and stowed their bags in that, and spent the remains of the night in it herself.

But the next day she was surprised to see Mr Boorman back in the town centre.

She said: "The hospital never admitted him to a ward, but discharged him that morning."

She tried to register with Maidstone council for emergency accommodation, but was not hopeful because she was aware they had no links in Maidstone and should be applying to Dartford council.

During the day, they decided to return to Dartford to seek help, but once there Mr Boorman's condition worsened.

They took him to Darent Valley Hospital A&E, but in the car park he slipped, fell and injured his hip, adding to their troubles.

As he was unable to stand, Mr Boorman was admitted to a ward at Darent Valley Hospital.

Meanwhile, Ms Kurt returned to Maidstone – she said because she needed the free meals and other support offered by the Maidstone Churches Winter Shelter – and spent the night in the derelict caravan.

'I don't suppose I'll ever see them again'

The next day, she was given the good news that Maidstone council was prepared to offer her emergency accommodation, but in Chatham.

She said: "They were not obliged to help me, but they have a severe weather policy where they try to get everybody off the streets when it's really cold."

When KentOnline spoke to her, she was delighting in having had her first shower in four days and in having the opportunity to recharge her phone.

But she said: "I haven't seen Colin since he went into hospital and I haven't been able to contact him to find out how he is."

As for their cat Bob and their hen Zero, she said: "I don't suppose I'll ever see them again."