A homeless man has volunteered to clean graffiti and fix damage after vandals targeted his adopted town.

Leeroy O’Loughlin has lived in a tent in a field in Snodland for two years “on and off” and residents have given him food, hot drinks, clothes and household items and even invited him into their homes.

So the 26-year-old was as disgusted as everyone else when thugs went on a two-week crime spree over Christmas and New Year, slashing car tyres, smashing house and car windows, destroying a park bench and spraying graffiti.

Scroll down for video

The former pupil of St Simon Stock School in Maidstone, who has done building work in the past, wants to give something back to those who have shown him kindness, particularly during this month's bitterly cold weather.

Leeroy O'Loughlin wants to give something back to his adopted town

He said: “It’s heartbreaking in the tent. I see other people and I think ‘I wish I was like you, I can do what you do’. Some days me and my dog just sit in the tent and cry. The work would give us something to do.

“I’ve made a front gate for my plot to make it homely and I’ve got a gas cooker but you’re never going to heat up out there. It’s been minus 5 some nights this week.”

Mr O’Loughlin’s dad died when he was 11 and after disagreements with his mum he later moved from Walderslade into a foster home in London.

But he found the capital too crowded and returned to Kent, ending up in hostels and eventually in the six-man tent when he struggled to live in a small space with strangers.

He ended up in Snodland because a friend he made in a hostel stays there with a relative. The woman lets Mr O’Loughlin charge his phone in the house and makes him cups of tea in the morning.

He said: “People have really helped me out. Someone even gave me a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I wasn’t happy about the vandalism and I want to try to help. I can fix things, clean graffiti or paint over it, anything really. I’d like to have my own business one day."

Mr O'Loughlin has had several interviews with homeless charity Porchlight for a place in a hostel that will also accept his nine month old staffordshire bull terrier cross bull mastiff Tyson.

He said: “I’d like to thank Porchlight, they are really trying to help me.

"A room would be fantastic right now but eventually I would like my own flat. It’s not ideal for me and the dog to live in one room and I don’t like sharing a kitchen and bathroom with other people. People have smashed my plates and left blood all over the bathroom in previous placed I've stayed. I like to be on my own.”

Police received more than 30 reports of vandalism between Monday, December 19 and Friday, January 6 including 23 damaged cars and nine relating to private property.

A 14-year-old boy from Snodland was arrested in connection with one smashed window in Simpson Road and bailed until March.