Criminal Beggars Making Hundreds

24 April 2015, 07:41 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Police have told Capital beggars are travelling hundreds of miles into Nottingham and earning up to a thousand pound a week getting money on the streets.

Last month 53 people were found begging in the city, one was sent to prison and another was find £400 pounds.

Nottinghamshire Police say the best way to support homeless people is to donate directly to charities like Framework:

Inspector Paul Gummer:

'All you're enabling them to do [beggars] is to carry on that lifestyle of rough sleeping.

'You're perpetuating them to make a bad choice at best, at worst and quite frequently all you're doing is funding their drug and alcohol habits, encouraging them and helping them to basically kill themselves!'

Begging Facts, from Nottingham City Council

- Most people sleeping rough do not beg and most people begging do not sleep rough;
- The link is primarily between begging and the misuse of drugs and alcohol;
- Nobody needs to be homeless – there are various charities that can help if you do not have a home;
- Giving money can potentially kill – it will feed the beggar’s habit;
- A lot of beggars in Nottingham are not from the city;
- Begging is a criminal offence;
- Some beggars masquerade as buskers – known as begging by other means.