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.’

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has condemned the Albanese government over the release of convicted Islamic State terrorist Isaac El Matari, who has been linked to alleged Bondi gunman Naveed Akram.

El Matari was scheduled to leave Macquarie Correctional Centre on Sunday after the Department of Home Affairs chose not to seek a Continuing Detention Order. Such an order could have kept him detained for up to a further five years.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government had not applied for the order because it was unable to satisfy the legal threshold needed for it to be granted.

Instead, the Australian Federal Police successfully sought an interim control order that imposes restrictions on El Matari following his release.

Mr Taylor argued the interim order was inadequate because it would not prevent El Matari from leaving prison.

“That’s not good enough,” he said, insisting Mr Burke “needed to act”.

El Matari, who is from Greenacre in Sydney’s west, was convicted in 2021 of terrorism offences connected to plans to establish an Islamic State base in the Blue Mountains.

The court heard he had discussed potential attacks on Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral and the US Embassy, as well as plans to travel to Afghanistan to fight with ISIS militants.

Sentencing evidence also revealed that El Matari had previously been imprisoned in Lebanon after trying to join the terrorist organisation.

His arrest in 2019 came as part of a counter-terrorism investigation that also brought Naveed Akram to the attention of authorities.

Akram has since been accused in connection with the Bondi attack.

Authorities have linked El Matari to a network of Islamist extremists associated with Sydney’s Street Dawah movement and controversial preacher Wissam Haddad.

Investigators alleged that a number of extremists and terrorism suspects were connected through street-preaching activities in western Sydney.

Akram appeared in a 2019 street-preaching video associated with the Al Madina Dawah Centre in Bankstown, which has links to Mr Haddad.

Mr Haddad has denied any personal involvement with Akram. The centre has also rejected claims that it was connected to the accused Bondi attacker, and no such connection is being suggested.

Mr Taylor accused the government of failing to take every available measure to protect the community.

“Tony Burke has not applied for a Continuing Detention Order to keep this guy under lock and key,” Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told 2GB.

“He hasn’t taken the action he should to keep him off the streets, and we’re calling on Tony Burke to do that immediately.”

Taylor labelled the release ‘extraordinary’ and said the government had failed to explain why it had not pursued a detention order through the courts.

‘This guy clearly is a risk to Australians in the way he has behaved in the past,’ he said.

‘Tony Burke should do his job, get a Continuing Detention Order, and put this guy behind lock and key.’

Asked why no action was taken before El Matari’s scheduled release date, Taylor said the government had had every opportunity to intervene.

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‘You’d apply for a Continuing Detention Order and say this guy is a threat to Australia and Australians and should be under lock and key, but Tony Burke can’t bring himself to do it,’ he said.

‘I have got to tell you, I just do not understand Tony Burke’s motives on this.’

El Matari was arrested in 2019 alongside Sydney man Radwan Dakkak during a series of counter-terrorism raids in western Sydney. 

He later pleaded guilty to preparing for a terrorist act and planning to enter a foreign country to engage in hostile activity.

He was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years and six months.

Dakkak was subsequently placed on an interim control order after his release and later re-arrested for breaching its conditions.

The order barred him from contacting El Matari and several figures associated with the Bankstown Dawah movement, including Haddad.

When questioned in Parliament last week, Burke acknowledged the seriousness of El Matari’s conduct. 

‘We are talking about someone who has engaged in views and planning that is beyond contempt,’ he told the House.

However, Taylor maintained that the interim control order was inadequate because it would not keep El Matari in prison.

‘The Minister needs to act, and if the Minister is not prepared to act, the Prime Minister needs to step in and tell him to,’ he said.

The Albanese government has defended the release of convicted terrorist Isaac El Matari from prison, insisting authorities are using all available legal powers to protect the community.

In a statement to Daily Mail on Sunday a Home Affairs Departmental spokesperson said community safety remained the government’s highest priority and stressed that security agencies were continuing to monitor the risk posed by convicted terrorist offenders.

‘There is no higher priority for the Australian Government than protecting the community from harm, including the risk posed by convicted terrorist offenders,’ the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said federal agencies were working together to manage any threats to public safety.

‘Our agencies are constantly working together to keep the community safe,’ the spokesperson said.

The government declined to provide details about the specific arrangements in place for El Matari, citing operational sensitivities.

‘The Australian Government has full confidence in the work of our agencies but does not comment on operational matters.’

‘On 29 October 2026, the Federal Court judge approved an interim control order in respect of Isaac El Matari.’

The government said control orders formed part of a broader framework used to manage convicted terrorists after their release from custody.

‘Continuing Detention Orders are one of a suite of measures available to manage terrorist offenders that includes control orders,’ the spokesperson said.

‘The Government takes the strongest action available under the law, based on expert advice and in consultation with the relevant operational and security agencies,’ the spokesperson said.

A 12-year-old boy in pyjamas was forced to the ground and handcuffed by three police officers who confiscated his electric scooter, footage appears to show.

South Wales Police has faced criticism over its use of force against Zain Evans, who officers found exploring an abandoned chapel in Pontardawe, in Swansea Valley, on Wednesday.

Zain was later treated in hospital for muscular injuries and cuts caused by broken glass on the ground, according to his mother, Emily Evans.

Mobile phone footage shows Zain, dressed in Hello Kitty pyjama trousers, a hoodie and a cycling helmet, helping a female officer carry his scooter through an overgrown alley beside the old chapel.

From behind the camera, another boy can be heard asking: ‘Are you taking his scooter? He’s only been walking it. He hasn’t driven it once.’

The officer responds: ‘Oh, please. I wasn’t born yesterday. Stop lying.’

Zain then stands in the scooter’s path and says: ‘What are you doing with it? You’re not taking it. I’m not letting you – I’ve got school.’

A male officer walks towards him and tells him to ‘move out of the way’. He then grabs Zain from behind and says the boy is under arrest.

The two officers push Zain against metal railings before wrestling him to the ground. As he cries out in pain, the boy can be heard pleading: ‘No, please!’

Ms Evans told the Daily Mail that officers pulled Zain’s arms behind his back with such force that he heard a ‘pop’.

Police reportedly seized Zain’s scooter and phone, along with his friend’s phone. The following day, they also visited the friend’s farm and took away his electric scooter, according to the report.

Zain and his mother went to hospital in Port Talbot on Thursday, where doctors placed his arm in a sling.

Ms Evans said Zain had been taking the scooter to a friend’s house to have it inspected after its electrics stopped working. He entered the abandoned church with two friends while they were exploring the site.

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She insisted that Zain could not have been riding the scooter because it was broken.

Officers found the boys inside and escorted them back to the street before deciding to detain Zain, although he was not formally arrested.

Ms Evans told the Mail that she drove past while Zain was being detained.

She said: ‘It absolutely broke me to the core. That child is a darling, he’s got a heart of gold. If someone is getting bullied, he takes them under this wing.

‘There was broken glass on the floor, which they forced him onto, cutting the back of his leg. They also flung his arms around his back so hard that Zain heard a pop.

‘He hasn’t been himself since this all happened on Wednesday. He’s been very nervous and had to sleep in with me.

‘My kids have been brought up fairly. If they do wrong, they are punished. But what the police did her was completely out of order.’ 

Ms Evans said South Wales Police gave her a phone number to call to enquire about the return of the two e-scooters, but when she did so the compound had no knowledge of the seized vehicles.

She also claimed the force had been unaware that three officers were present at the incident, believing there were only two.

A spokesman for South Wales Police said: ‘Officers observed a suspected incident of criminal damage to a disused church on Swansea Road, Pontardawe at around 2:15pm on Wednesday October 28.

‘While attending this incident, officers conducted searches of individuals believed to have committed offences and seized an e-scooter which was believed to have been used illegally.

‘We are aware of footage of this incident which has been circulated on social media and understand concern from the community in regards to use of force. 

‘The mother of the young person has been contacted by officers and the incident has been referred for review by our Professional Standards Department.’