Gulf war veteran sleeps rough on the streets of Lewes

Young Private Rickey Burnham travelled to the battled fields of Iraq at the age of just 19.

Six years later he is reduced to sleeping in the street - haunted by the terrors of war.

Rickey had always wanted to be a soldier after his stepfather was in the TA, but the reality of seeing scores of dead and mutilated bodies, being under constant attack and living in a ditch for months at a time has left him with crippling emotional problems.

In October 2006 the young soldier became so distressed and fled from his unit.

But even in the safety of his home his battle scars would not heal.

Diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder his marriage broke up and he moved back to his parents' home near Lewes.

Now his mother and stepfather, who were so proud of him a few years ago, are unable to cope with his anxiety, distress and depression and he has had to leave their home.

Sleeping at in doorways and at Lewes train station, Rickey can not even get Lewes District Council to accept he is homeless.

Rickey's GP has written a letter to the council explaining that a single night on the streets could have a seriously detrimental effect on his mental Health.

Describing his time on the front line with the 13th Air Assault regiment, Rickey said: “The living conditions got to me. We were digging a hole in the ground and that's where we stayed for three months. “We were under constant threat.

“We would go out through the villages the Americans had cleared before.

“And there were bodies by the side of the road and bits of people lying there.

“One of the worst things for me was the smell. You would be driving through villages where people were dead and the buildings were crumbling around them.

“We would come back from an area and that night you would hear that someone else went through that same route and was ambushed and that could have been you.

“A few hours earlier you could have been laughing and joking with them and then that's it.”

After a five month tour of duty Rickey returned home, wracked with guilt that he was alive.

When he was sent back out to Germany in November 2005 he said his experiences overwhelmed him. He went AWOL and returned home.

He said: “Everything came to a head in Germany.

“I couldn't really tell anyone. So I just kept harbouring it.

“Then I just decided enough was enough, so I packed my stuff and left.”

Rickey originally went to Glasgow where his wife was living, and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome. But his mental health led to the breakdown of their marriage and he returned to his parents' home in East Chiltington, near Lewes.

But last week his mother and stepfather decided they could no longer cope with him and asked him to leave.

Since then he has been sleeping rough, but he has struggled to get on Lewes District Council's homelessness list.

He said: “It messes with my head and I forget to take my medication. I don't know what day of the week it is or what's going on around me.

“Things were bad with my parents as soon as I went back home.

“But they had been so proud of me serving, that they really tried. But they had to force me to get out of bed and take my medication.

“On Friday they said they just couldn't take it any more and kicked me out.

“I went to see the council homelessness officer but they said I didn't have grounds for saying I was homeless.

“I have a letter from my mother explaining that I was living with them but can't any more.

“I got a letter from my GP saying it was severely detrimental to my mental health to be made homeless.

“They are saying I don't have grounds for saying I'm homeless and I'm not a priority case.

“I felt like they were laughing behind my back.”

A spokesman for Lewes District Council said Rickey had failed to turn up for appointments when he had made previous homelessness applications during the time he was living with his wife, after they split up and while he was living at his parents.

He said: “Over the past year we have offered him action but for various reasons he hasn't taken that action.

“Each of those times greater affects his chances. Now technically he has made himself homeless.

“Rickey has two outstanding forms for the housing register and Homelink.

“He hasn't returned either of those. Until he does we can't take it any further.

“We are yet to see the letter from his GP in writing. And we still can't prove that he has a local link and that we are obliged to help him.

“If we don't have evidence he is a local person we don't have to help him.”

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: “The MoD takes the mental health of our personnel extremely seriously and extensive prevention and treatment measures are in place both on operations and in the UK.

“Mental health professionals provide expert assessment and treatment and the new peer-group monitoring scheme encourages personnel to talk about concerns, reducing any stigma associated with seeking help.

“The MoD is also working with the NHS on community mental health pilots across the UK, tailored specifically for veterans and we have expanded the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas’ Hospital in London and have set up the Reservists Mental Health Programme for those who have deployed since 2003.”