A tent, tucked away in the corner of a Chatham graveyard, is where homeless men Chris Stanford and Jonathon Martin shelter from the cold. The pair have described the horrors they face living on the streets.

Each day Chris, who uses crutches, helps Jon, who is paraplegic, into his wheelchair and the pair head to Chatham High Street to beg for change.

Their story emerged amid growing concern about the problem of rough sleepers in the Towns, after three deaths last year.

Jon, 38, became homeless two years ago after he split with his girlfriend of 16 years.

He couldn’t afford the rent by himself and fell into arrears. Jon’s home was repossessed and Medway Council found temporary accommodation for him in a hotel. But he was thrown out after taking pity on an elderly homeless man and letting him stay in the spare bed.

Jon slept on the streets before Medway Street Angels gave him and Chris a tent. They set up camp in the churchyard, Jon says, to get away from abuse they receive on the street.

He said: “There are some nasty people about who throw things at you, spit at you, wee on you in the doorway. It’s disgusting. That’s why we’re in a tent, so that we have a little bolthole that we can come back to.

“We’re out in all weathers, we’ve got loads of quilts and things so we’re warm but a lot of things inside get damp.”

Jon says he has been told he made himself intentionally homeless, so the council won’t house him.

“How can anybody make themselves intentionally homeless?” He said. “Why would anybody want to be on the street?

“I’ve got terminal lung disease and so has Chris. I’ve got asthma, cellulitis, and I’ve just had my toe amputated because of frostbite.”

Jon is supposed to have the wound on his foot dressed but as he has no fixed address, he says the district nursing team refuses to visit him.

"There are some nasty people about who throw things at you, spit at you, wee on you in the doorway. It’s disgusting" - Jon Martin

“I’m just asking for a room, somewhere safe that I can go to sleep,” he said.

He has had problems with alcohol and drugs but said he has worked hard to overcome them.

Jon said: “The clock is ticking. We aren’t getting any younger and it’s a jungle out there. The pastor [of the church where the graveyard is] doesn’t want us here but he’s allowing it for the time being.

“He’s tried to help us and called the council. They sent one of their managers and a housing officer – the same one that said I made myself homeless. They will not give me any housing unless it’s minus four degrees outside.”

A friend of Jon’s was sleeping in the same shop doorway with Michael McCluskey when he was found dead on Christmas Eve.

“My friend was lying next to Michael when he died,” Jon said. “He was covering him up with blankets all night. He nudged him in morning and nothing happened. I don’t want to end up a statistic, dead in a doorway.”

A spokesman for Medway Community Healthcare said: “Our community nursing team will not turn away a homeless person on the basis of their housing status, but will advise them to come along to the relevant clinic to receive care.

“If a dressing needs changing regularly they would be advised to book into one of our wound clinics (these are based in a number of locations around Medway). Some of our services require a patient to be registered with a GP but not necessarily to have a fixed address.”

Teams were not able to go out to treat the homeless but could advise them of the relevant clinic, the spokesman added.

A Medway Council spokesman added: "We provide temporary accommodation to homeless people where appropriate and have offered this individual accommodation a number of times.

"Unfortunately following complaints of anti-social behaviour he was asked to leave. Although the individual has made himself intentionally homeless, we are working with agencies to review any further support we can offer him, as we would for anyone else in this position.

"We work with charitable organisations all year round to help homeless people find appropriate accommodation.

"We would urge anyone sleeping rough to contact the council or visit Kingsley House in Gillingham, so they can be taken through all of the options available to them."