A father-of three who went missing while suffering from depression and sparked a police search returned to his flat to find someone else living in it.

Paul O’Sullivan, 48, is now homeless with just £30 to his name.

He said he walked out of his flat in Mill Road, Gillingham, after a series of personal difficulties left him unable to cope and he started roaming the streets.

He had been left penniless in September when his employment support allowance was stopped.

When he called the Department for Work and Pensions to find out why, he was told it was because he was now living in Shepperton in Surrey.

The department has since admitted its error but at the time it also led to Medway Council stopping his housing benefit.

When his landlady called the authority to find out why, she too was told he had moved to Surrey.

She re-let his property and when Mr O’Sullivan returned home after his depression episode, he found someone else living there.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “I was in a dark place when I went missing. I was just wandering the streets and just wanted to be on my own.

“When I was found by police and ready to return home, I went to my flat and there was a woman standing in the doorway having a cigarette.

“I still had the key, and if she had not been standing there I would have put the key in the door and gone in. I asked her what she was doing and she said she now lived there and she called the landlady for me.

“The landlady told me she had called Medway Council and was told I had moved to Shepperton, so she put my things in storage and re-let the flat.

"I had sorted out the benefits thing before I went missing and the DWP had reinstated my benefits within days and said it was automatically updated with the local authority.

“But the council had not paid my rent because on their system I was living in Shepperton.

“It’s a nightmare, I now have nowhere to live. I have just £30 to my name and the council are now saying I am not entitled to get somewhere to stay now" - Paul O'Sullivan

“It’s a nightmare, I now have nowhere to live. I have just £30 to my name and the council are now saying I am not entitled to get somewhere to stay now. None of this is my fault.

“It’s not my landlady’s fault either, and I have been sofa-surfing at friends’ homes and my brother’s home, but I can’t stay there any more.”

Mr O’Sullivan has a letter from Medway Council saying the authority is satisfied he is homeless and eligible for assistance but that he has no priority need for accommodation, so he is now on the waiting list for a property.

He said: “I have nowhere to go and just £30 until my next benefit payment. It’s getting colder and I really am running out of options for places to stay.”

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