Huw Powell was in a position none of us would envy. A variety of factors, including a bereavement, had seen him become homeless, sometimes sleeping on the streets. We know this because of a further indignity he suffered.
The 39-year-old was sleeping on a bench in Bridgend's Market Street in April when police ordered him to leave the town centre. He refused and landed in court, where he was ordered to pay £159. As his lawyer, duty solicitor Luis Williamson, put it at the sentencing: "He was effectively punished for being homeless."
It turns out Mr Powell is not alone. The fact is that homeless people in south Wales are being ordered to leave town centres and being fined if they refuse. And a disproportionate number of prosecutions are coming in one town.
