‘Tragic’ final moments of city’s rough sleeper

● Man died on street after temperatures dropped to -5C

A bed-and-breakfast owner has described the moments passers-by made heroic, lastgasp attempts to save the life of a man sleeping rough on Edinburgh’s streets in subzero temperatures.

The man had been one of two sleeping through the night in lows of -5C on a discarded mattress near bins on East London Street.

While it is not known if the men were homeless, politicians said the tragedy on the streets of the Scottish capital highlighted an issue that should “shame us all”. Norman Ramsay – the 56-year-old owner of Ramsay’s B&B – was left in shock after watching the surviving man try to wake his dying friend yesterday morning.

He said: “I came along the street this morning at 6:45 and saw two gentlemen lying on the pavement on a mattress

0 Forensics officers at the scene where a man died on Edinburgh’s East London Street yesterday in sleeping bags.

“When I got in, I saw one man rolling his sleeping bag up and then shaking his friend, but he wasn’t responding. I knew something wasn’t right.

“One of the neighbours went out and must have been speaking to the NHS on the phone while giving CPR. He started being sick because he obviously hadn’t done anything like that before.

“Next thing a woman comes running down the road in her pyjamas. She must have been a doctor or something. The emergency responders arrived and she was helping the paramedic.

“It was very dramatic. They looked like they were homeless.”

The man’s death is being treated as unexplained. It is not believed to be suspicious, but officers had cordoned off the scene yesterday near St Mary’s Primary School following the discovery about 7:45am.

Forensics were also in attendance until 11:20am. A tent was set up to preserve the scene.

Mr Ramsay said: “I gave a coffee to the other gentleman, who was really shook up. It was very icy and cold last night. I’ve been living here for 11 years and I’ve never seen anything like this happen. It’s really sad.

“I’ve never seen homeless people sleeping rough on this street. I would say they were in their 50s. I still can’t believe it. I can’t get my head round it.”

It is not known why the men were sleeping rough. One suggestion was they had been on a night out and simply took to sleep after spotting a mattress.

The man’s death occurred on the same day Edinburgh City Council agreed to spend £2 million on a homelessness taskforce as part of this year’s budget. Taskforce chair Kate Campbell said additional support from the Scottish Government had not managed to stop a tragedy from happening.