A homeless man sleeping on the streets has urged people who pass him to forget food donations and instead give him money to help feed his alcohol addiction.
Matthew McNamara, also known as ‘Matty’, is a self-confessed alcoholic who can often be found curled up inside a sleeping bag outside a local Sainsbury’s.
The 42-year-old, who has previously been called "aggressive and persistent", is currently subject to a Criminal Behaviour Order which bans him from begging.
Mr McNamara is still urging people to help him fund his crippling alcohol addiction because he suggests the booze is "keeping him alive", Hull Live reports.
Every day, the beggar gets through 20 bottles of Lambrini and one bottle of vodka, which he suggests helps him numb the physical and mental pain of homelessness.
Without a drink, he says he ends up sprawled out on the floor suffering from seizures.
Mr McNamara, who grew up in Sutton and has a wife who lives nearby, told Hull Live: “I get blind drunk to blot out the suffering and pain I’m in.
"I’m a broken man and just a shadow of what I was. I used to be a big man with a lot of power but now I’ve got nothing left.
“I end up absolutely hammered to the point where I don’t know what’s going on and I do just drink to forget.
“It’s dangerous for me to go without alcohol. If I do, I end up in fits and it’s scary. The booze is keeping me alive and it’s what I live for.”
Security guards who stand on the door at Sainsbury’s keep a watchful eye on Mr McNamara, who has been banned from entering the store and buying alcohol.
He now goes elsewhere with his money to purchase booze and he has implored passers-by not to give him food as it will just go to waste.
"People are offering to buy me food but I am knocking it back,” Mr McNamara said. “Don’t waste your money because I will just give it to the next man.
“I get given lots of food but I don’t eat it – I just give it away. I understand why people might not want to give me any money – I totally get it but I am very forthcoming.
“Someone the other day asked me if I wanted food and I said I wanted a beer so she just walked off.
"I totally get it and I think it’s disgraceful, outrageous and disgusting and people think I’m scum but this is what I have been driven to."
In recent weeks and months, Mr McNamara, who has been intermittently homeless for a decade after resorting to selling drugs, has dabbled in the mind-bending drug Spice.
He says he became known as the “spice zombie” after an appearance on TV but just four days ago he was convinced to stop taking Spice in order to retain his spot outside Sainsbury’s.
“Spice is everywhere in Hull. If you want it you can get it and it’s cheap as chips. It’s £30 or £40 for an ounce or a tenner for a gram.
“I would have a pipe and crash out, wake up, have another and then crash out again. That was my day and it got to the point where I thought ‘I can’t possibly do this anymore.’
“The people in Sainsbury’s didn’t like it and they said I was intimidating customers so I stopped. It had to be done because it was giving me a bad reputation.”
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In the past few days, Mr McNamara has noticed a drop in temperatures and he is bracing himself for the prospect of chillier nights out on the streets in the months to come.
He said he is getting sick of lying on the concrete every night but he faces a far bigger threat which is putting his safety at risk every night.
“I keep getting robbed on a night by other homeless people and I think they are scum," he said.
“On Sunday night I woke up to find my pocket unzipped and someone had taken £15 off me. That was my beer money for Monday so because that’s gone I’ve had to come out and beg.
“Four days ago someone battered me in the head and left me with a bloodshot eye.”
He added: "I’ve tried to get help but it’s not forthcoming. I do want to drop it all like a sack of potatoes but I’m not able to do that at the minute.
“I think the best thing for me is a stint in jail because at least then I would get proper help with Spice and alcohol detox and methadone programmes.”
Throughout the day, Mr McNamara is greeted by many well-wishers, bur Mr McNamara wants more people to come up to him and ask about his life.
He said: "Please just give me a minute of your time. Don’t just cut me out of the picture. It’s so easy to get tarnished with a brush but I really would appreciate more people coming up to me.
“I want people to be more sociable because I am isolated at the minute. People will cast aspersions but it just goes over my head now and I want people to know that I’m not intimidating and that I am forthcoming.”
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