A homeless woman has described life on the streets with her partner, after he died by her side in Chatham town centre.

Kayleigh Wilkes found Samson Paine lifeless in the tent they shared in June. He was just 28.

The two had been together for the best part of 10 years, and had remained by each other's sides during the worst times on the streets of Chatham over the past three years.

When Samson had been offered the opportunity to go into detox on the last occasion, he’d turned it down because he didn’t want to leave Kayleigh alone on the streets.

Kayleigh, 29, and still homeless, didn’t make it to the inquest into his death at Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone - she never got the call to tell her where it was.

"People were saying he overdosed and things like that which I know isn’t true," said Kayleigh, echoing the conclusion of the assistant coroner. "I wanted to make it clear what happened and what he was like."

While some commentators online had little sympathy for Samson due to his criminal past – he'd done time for robbery – Kayleigh knew a different man.

"He was like a giant teddy bear. He would go out of his way for you. He was funny and he would do anything for anybody" - Kayleigh Wilkes

"He was like a giant teddy bear," she said. "He would go out of his way for you. He was outgoing, and he hated being down. He was funny and he would do anything for anybody.

"There were times we would go back to where we stayed and he would stay up all night because he knew I was scared.

"We were living under Chatham court, surrounded by rats and drug paraphernalia.

"Then we were by the bus station. We were a bit safer then because we had a tent, and he could get some sleep.

"We were always trying to get somewhere to live, but we felt like everyone was pushing us away. People weren’t going to house us because we were on drugs and drink."

Since Samson’s death, Medway Council’s policy on homelessness has come under the spotlight, and while portfolio holder for housing Cllr Howard Doe insists the council offers "appropriate advice and assistance to prevent homelessness," others have called for further efforts to be made.

Miss Wilkes says more direct action is needed to help homeless people turn their lives around.

"The advice we got before wasn’t help at all," she said.

"We gave phone numbers to them and nobody contacted us – Turning Point, Blue Light Project, Medway Council.

"Even the police said they would try getting us somewhere, but nothing happened.

"Me and Sam didn’t want to split. Sam was more worried about me being on the street on my own, and there’s not many places that we could go together.

"They offered detox to us both but they wouldn’t let us go together."

She believes if the two of them had been able to get help earlier and found accommodation, Samson wouldn’t have succumbed to the addictions and health problems that led to his death.

And it’s only since he died that Miss Wilkes feels help is finally heading her way.

"I had an interview with Pathways (Pathways to Independence homeless charity)," she said.

"They’re saying they will put me on a waiting list and they said when a room comes up I will be the first to get it.

"He would stay up all night because he knew I was scared. We were living under Chatham court, surrounded by rats and drug paraphernalia" - Kayleigh Wilkes

"They’re going to help me with getting back into work."

She added: "I feel Sam’s been let down. We had stayed clean before together.

"Sometimes people said that our relationship was co-dependent, but we had been clean together.

"At the end of the day it’s all right for people on the outside to comment, who aren’t in that relationship. We know what we wanted.

"I feel like they should ask what people need and reach out a bit more.

"They need outreach workers if they’re to help homeless people – they need to find other ways of getting to them."

A statement from Miss Wilkes was read to the hearing at the Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone explaining the pair had both taken heroin in the early hours of June 15 in their tent on the patch of grass off Dock Road.

Mr Paine had fallen asleep while Miss Wilkes had stayed awake to read a book. Some hours later she noticed he had stopped breathing.

She ran out to the street and flagged down a passing police car but Mr Paine was pronounced dead later that morning.

Tests revealed he took a mixture of drugs and alcohol before his death, the inquest heard.

But assistant coroner Katrina Hepburn concluded he did not die of an overdose.

Instead she determined his death was "drug-related" and that an existing heart condition and morbid obesity contributed to causing his heart failure.