When the former soldier's private security firm collapsed, he made Britain’s busiest airport his home - living off scraps left by holidaymakers for three years
Tom Hanks in The Terminal
Before that he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland with the parachute regiment.
He told the Sunday Express: “I suddenly lost everything when my business, which provided high-risk assignments and the training of personnel, collapsed.
He used to be the bodyguard for David Beckham
Three creditors owed me a total of almost £50,000. I took them to court but they just declared themselves bankrupt. The really painful part is that at least two of them started training again a few weeks later under slightly different names.
“The business put an enormous strain on my relationship and we separated. I was suddenly homeless and, because all the bank accounts were in joint names, penniless.
“I was mulling over what to do. I don’t want to be a burden on anybody, so felt I couldn’t stay on friends’ floors for more than a night or two, especially since I can’t pay my way.
Rex
The ex-soldier's story mirrors that of the Tom Hanks character
“Then I remembered the Tom Hanks film about the bloke living at an airport. I realised there would be washing facilities and even free wi-fi.”
The film sees Hanks forced to live in the airport following a war breaking out in his home county, leaving him stateless and unable to leave.
Mr Jones is living on scraps of food thrown away by customers at the airport cafes and uses the toilets for washing.
He said he has yet to be confronted by any airport official or police despite them walking past him in the airport on a daily basis.
A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: “It is very sad when people fall on hard times and they occasionally come to the airport specifically because it is a warm and safe place.
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'“It is very sad when people fall on hard times and they occasionally come to the airport specifically because it is a warm and safe place'
“We take very seriously the safety of passengers and colleagues at Heathrow. In partnership with the Metropolitan Police and the Government the airport operates high levels of security, some of which is very visible to passengers and some of it covert.
“That security is constantly reviewed.
source: uk mirror
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