For most people, the thought of bedbugs is enough to trigger an instant shudder.

But one scientist has spent the past five years deliberately sleeping alongside the insects—and says their bites no longer bother him.

Entomologist Dr Richard Naylor raises about 60,000 bedbugs to evaluate pest-control products from around the world. He has also volunteered himself as the products’ human test subject.

Twice a week, Dr Naylor gives the insects what he calls a “feeding day”. He secures some of the bugs to his arm, lets them bite him and carries on working while they feed.

When he needs to assess new devices or bedbug repellents, he also spends a night in a bed containing the insects.

‘I must have been bitten millions of times by now, so I stopped reacting a long time ago. I get a red patch on my arm after the bugs have fed, but it disappears after about half an hour,’ he said. 

‘If there is no one sleeping in a bed, the bedbugs just sleep; they just go on standby. And so I can’t test anything in the test bedrooms without there being a host in there.’

The researcher operates the non-profit Bed Bug Foundation from a two-bedroom suite in the garden of his home in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

The insects are kept inside the walls of the self-contained laboratory, where Dr Naylor helps companies evaluate products before they reach the market.

The bedbugs are also bred and shipped around the world, frequently to canine detection teams that help hotels identify infestations.    

Dr Naylor told BBC News: ‘I don’t know of any other pest that has the same level of emotional and psychological impact on people.’

He said bedbug infestations can also leave some people experiencing symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder.

His comments come as experts warn of a dramatic increase in infestations involving the notoriously resilient insects—an era some have dubbed “peak bedbug”.

Bedbugs have developed resistance to modern insecticide sprays, making established infestations particularly difficult to eliminate.

Pest-control firm Rentokil reported that confirmed bedbug activity in the UK rose by 44 per cent year on year between 2023 and 2025. JG Pest Control, meanwhile, said it had carried out more than 5,000 bedbug-related visits in the past 12 months.

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Recent outbreaks have affected hotels, trains and aircraft. Last month, six Southeastern services were cancelled after suspected bedbugs were found on trains travelling between Kent and London. 

The cancellations came after two incidents the previous month in which bedbugs were discovered in drivers’ cabs operated by the same train company.

A report in the Journal of Pest Science last month concluded that bedbugs carry different genetic signatures depending on where they’re from, allowing them not only to survive our efforts to eradicate them but to evolve and strengthen their resistance.

Their spread is also due to the frequency with which people travel around the country. 

Bedbugs ‘hitchhike’, which means they cling to clothing and bags, Professor Logan explains. Hotels are hotbeds because of their large, transient population. 

The same is true of trains, planes and hospitals. A Qantas flight was grounded in Rome earlier this month after the creatures were spotted scuttling around in economy.

‘But what we’re starting to see now is bedbugs also in places like offices, workplaces and pubs,’ said Professor Logan.

An infestation at The Guardian newspaper, reported last month, has resulted in staff being allowed to work remotely and given home bedbug ‘monitors’ – gadgets which lure bugs out of their hiding places with special chemical attractants.

In other offices in London, staff have refused to come in when colleagues have revealed they have infestations at home. 

Rising temperatures may also be to blame. ‘Climate change is making it better for them and worse for us,’ Professor Logan says.

According to Martim Gois, co-founder and chief executive of hospitality company Valpas, Europe is ‘at peak bed bug’, with an unprecedented ‘surge’ in numbers observed in hotel rooms. 

The tiny insects can hide in mattress seams, bed frames and upholstered furniture and are often transported into homes through luggage, clothing and unwashed second-hand clothes.

According to Hannah Shore, head of sleep science at leading bed retailer MattressOnline, bed bugs can quickly multiply if they are left untreated in ‘soft furnishings’ such as bedding, carpets and curtains.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘Bed bugs are most commonly found in beds due to the easy access to food (blood), but during the day, they walk around in search of food, which may take them further afield.

‘They often attach themselves to suitcases or climb into suitcases, meaning you then take them home with you and, if left untreated, they start a new colony there.’

The Block delivered a dramatic grand finale on Sunday night, with the contestants celebrating some of the biggest paydays in the show’s history.

After seasons marked by disappointing profits and properties struggling to find buyers, the 2026 series ended on a high. Every team sold their home, with each group walking away with a substantial financial reward.

Courtney and Sev’s House 4 was the second property to go under the hammer and immediately began attracting bids, setting the stage for one of The Block’s most lucrative results.

The Brisbane best friends entered the auction with a reserve of $3.45 million. Bidding quickly intensified, and within moments they had already secured a $500,000 profit.

Following a tense bidding war, the property sold for $4.72 million, giving Courtney and Sev a staggering $1.27 million profit.

The result left both friends in tears and almost unable to speak when host Scott Cam revealed they had become instant millionaires.

“The Block is freaking me out,” Scott joked as he celebrated the result with the pair, warning that their auction total would be difficult for the remaining teams to surpass.

His prediction proved accurate. Courtney and Sev’s $1.27 million profit became the biggest sale result of The Block’s 2026 season.

Along with their profit, the friends received Scotty’s additional $500,000 prize and the $100,000 winner’s prize, taking their total earnings to $1.87 million.

Their extraordinary result also established a new record for the highest final total ever achieved by a team on The Block.

“It’s so much more than we could’ve ever dreamed of. Never in a million years could we have ever dreamed of that happening,” Courtney told nine.com.au

“And in this market,” Sev added.

Courtney said the timing and circumstances had worked in their favour, adding: “Everything has just lined up and we’re so happy and so grateful.”

The Brisbane duo surpassed the previous record set by Steph and Gian Ottavio, who won $1.75 million on the show in 2023.

House 1 was the first property auctioned, having been renovated by Adam and Jolene.

With a reserve of $3.45 million, the house sold for $3.905 million, with a profit of $455,000 for the South Australian couple. 

IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis placed the winning bid, securing his 15th Block house in the show’s history. 

The cattle station managers broke down in tears over the ‘life-changing’ sum, sharing that they’d no longer have to return to remote work with close to half a million in the bank. 

Third to face the gavel were Lisa and Rosco, who welcomed their second child just days before the auction. 

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With their reserve set at $3.45 million, the Perth couple had a bid from Danny before the auctioneer even finished his announcement. 

Bidding for their property, House 3, took so long that Scott stopped to tuck into a sandwich, complaining the auction was cutting into his lunch break. 

The home sold for $4 million, with the new parents earning $550,000 – and the sale was sweetened by Lisa and Rosco offering the winning bidder a cuddle with their newborn son. 

The tearful couple were touched, revealing that the money will change their lives, and the lives of their young children, forever. 

Chantel and Wyatt were next up, with their House 2 locked in with a $3.45 million reserve. 

The Gold Coast couple admitted they were nervous, with Chantel saying she was ‘going to spew’ as the auction kicked off. 

With serial bidder Danny exiting the auction, the bidding slowed down. 

The pair eventually sold the property for $3.817 million, with a total profit of $367,000. 

Rick and Tayla’s House 5 was the last up for auction, again with a reserve of $3.45 million.

The father and daughter duo originally had a reserve of $3.5 million because they had the largest property on The Block. 

They were delighted to be able to lower it by $50,000, opening them to more bidders. 

Rick and Tayla were told by Scott before the auction kicked off that they were in with a shot to win The Block because of the colossal size of their home. 

Scott called the pair ‘dark horses’ in the race, but they took the prediction in their stride. 

The bidding was heated, flying straight up to $4 million in minutes. 

The final price was $4.355 million, earning the dad and daughter a whopping $905,000.  

Shoppers in a prosperous south-eastern town are sharing a busy council-run car park with homeless migrants and people struggling with drug addiction who are sleeping in tents.

At least 12 men have created makeshift shelters between the concrete pillars of Reading’s Civic B Car Park, where the cost of parking for one hour has recently climbed from £2.10 to £4.30.

The run-down brutalist structure, located directly beneath the Berkshire town’s magistrates’ court, is used daily by barristers and hundreds of shoppers.

During a visit by the Daily Mail, men were reportedly seen injecting heroin in secluded corners, while clothes and other belongings lay scattered across the car park.

Footage captured inside the building shows tents, blankets and personal possessions spread across urine-soaked floors on two levels, highlighting the harsh conditions facing those living there.

Most of the men appear to be staying on the first floor, which shoppers pass when using the stairs, although some also sleep alongside vehicles on the ground level.

Disturbing scenes include rubbish and discarded underwear lying only a few feet from shoppers’ cars.

The visit took place on the same day Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to ‘fix rough sleeping’. The Daily Mail spoke to several people living inside the car park about their experiences.

Richard Okine, 33, is one of the car park’s residents. He has lived there for almost three years after losing his life savings in what he described as a romance scam.

The father arrived in the UK from Ghana by plane six years ago. He said a recent stabbing had made him too frightened to sleep inside a tent.

“Living here is very tough,” he said. “One of the biggest problems I’ve faced is having the blankets we sleep on taken away.

“I don’t use a tent. I sleep with a blanket because I don’t feel safe inside one. Someone could come in and do anything to you, and nobody outside would know what was happening.

“There have been a few violent incidents here. A lot of people smoke heroin and crack cocaine, and sometimes they argue and fight.

“A few months ago, someone cut another person’s ear. It was almost severed.”

Okine said he was permitted to remain in the UK on a family visa. He previously worked at Sainsbury’s and also held a cash-in-hand job as a cleaner.

He said he is addicted to heroin and acknowledged that people in similar circumstances may sometimes view shoplifting as one of the few ways to raise money.

“I’m originally from Ghana and I’ve lived in the UK for almost six years. I came here legally on a family visa because my father brought me over,” he said.

‘I’m legally allowed to stay here, but my problem is that I’ve got pre-settled status. As I understand it, I need indefinite status before I’m eligible for housing or public funds. So I’m stuck in between. 

‘I can work, and I’ve worked before. I’ve done cleaning jobs and worked at Sainsbury’s in Newbury.

‘But when you’re homeless, you’re dirty. Sometimes you can’t even take a shower. I haven’t had a shower for about eight months. I’m telling you the truth.

‘There are places where you can go to wash, but some of the people there are very aggressive, and you can end up getting into a fight. I decided not to go because it’s too risky.’

Richard met a woman on Facebook from his home country and began sending her the money he earned while working here.

He said: ‘She was from Ghana, and I fell in love with her. I thought we would get married.

‘I sent her money, rented and furnished a home for her, and paid for her education to become a nurse.

‘But when I visited Ghana, I discovered another man had been staying at the house while I was away. The children told me he would arrive late at night and leave early in the morning.

‘I felt like I had been used. When I found out, it completely broke me. I couldn’t work or do anything. That’s how I became homeless, and it still hurts me.

‘After the relationship, I started taking drugs. I began with weed, then moved on to crack and heroin. Now I’m an addict, although I’m on medication.

‘Sometimes I feel fed up with life, but I can still work.’

He went on: ‘I think the Government could do much more to help people in this situation. There should be some kind of support, or jobs that people can simply walk into and start working, even if they’re struggling with addiction.

’If the Government created jobs where people could turn up, do something useful for the country and get paid, regardless of whether they were addicts, I think it would make a real difference.

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‘So many people are stuck in situations like mine, and they need a way out.’

Another resident, James Johnson, 41, said: ‘I was living in west London but I ended up getting into trouble and moved out here.

‘It’s horrible but what can you do. We’ve got a system set up here and it’s easy to find what you want, drugs and whatever.’

The former retail worker added: ‘I’m happy to move if there’s a better place to go, but where exactly?

‘We are given a few weeks shelter around Christmas, but it’s gonna be f***ing cold before then, let me tell you.’

Reading Borough Council has left a series of posters around the site stating it is ‘not suitable’ to live there.

But it has not stopped a growing number of men from using the space as a home.

Motorists have complained about the condition and security of the car park, with one driver claiming online that his vehicle was vandalised after being left there for just a few hours. 

One devastated driver was left furious after someone tried to break into his car using a concrete block at the Reading car park. 

The motorist, Danny Chilvers, shared an image of his badly scratched Audi parked in a bay on social media.

He fumed: ‘Someone tried to break into my car with a concrete block, literally happened on my birthday, at civic B car park.

‘I called and there’s no CCTV around apparently, police contacted. Be a bit cautious parking here.’

He added: ‘I’m going to see if the council can be held liable.

‘If they were aware of this being a persistent problem and failed to take measures, then they should be.’

A local resident blamed the ‘tent people living by the entrance’, adding: ‘God knows why they are allowed to stay there.’

Another wrote: ‘Just claim the insurance and make your peace with it. Dealing with the council will be like talking to a brick wall.’

Other drivers said they park at Riverside car park in the town ‘because it’s convenient and feels safe, even if it’s expensive’.

Another complained about smashed glass from apparent break-ins, while a third described the premises as poorly lit and lacking visible CCTV.

The car park has 170 spaces and charges around the clock.

Footage taken upstairs by the court shows rats scurrying along the ground.

Tent ‘shanty-towns’ have now begun to crop up in other car parks across the UK, with recent encampments reported in Nottingham and Gloucester.

The sites are popular with rough sleepers as they are dry, secure and usually central, it’s believed.  

This development comes after the Mail’s investigations into homeless encampments across central London, including Mayfair, Oxford Street, Shoreditch and The Strand, among others. 

The number of people sleeping rough in England has reached a record high, with an estimated 4,793 people bedding down on the streets on a single night last autumn.

The figure represents a 171 per cent increase since 2010, according to the latest annual Government figures.

More recent statistics revealed that an estimated 8,748 people slept rough at some point during June this year, the highest number recorded for that month.

Meanwhile, a record 135,580 households were living in temporary accommodation at the end of March, including 177,530 children.

In Reading, the council recorded 43 rough sleepers during its latest annual count in November 2025, compared with 42 the previous year.

A Reading Borough Council spokesman said: ‘The Council’s commissioned outreach team at St Mungo’s regularly engages with the small number of individuals camping down at this site, both to check on their welfare and to direct them to the accommodation and support the Council and its partners make available to people sleeping rough in Reading.

‘Alongside visits from St Mungo’s, there is continued support for people sleeping rough through the Council’s Rough Sleeping Initiatives Team, winter shelters provided by the charity FAITH between January and March, and seven additional supported accommodation projects offering more than 270 bed spaces for single people and couples who are sleeping rough, or at risk it. These are all commissioned by the Council.

‘This is all in addition to the Council’s SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) response, triggered whenever temperatures reach zero degrees or below for three consecutive nights, which activates emergency accommodation to anyone sleeping rough, regardless of whether they have a local connection or access to public funds.

‘The Council would emphasise however that despite accommodation being available and being offered, it is unfortunately not always taken up by people sleeping rough.

‘We always seek to engage and signpost to the comprehensive support services and bed spaces available in Reading for people who have a local connection to the borough, with a goal to help and direct people to move into safe, stable accommodation.

‘We do not advocate a dedicated area for people rough sleeping in tents due to the associated safety risks and the adverse effect of normalising rough sleeping.’