‘He died as shoppers walked by’: Cardboard gravestone in Debenhams doorway honours man who died there

Second cardboard gravestone in two weeks appears in Bristol city centre

The gravestone honours Adam Zajac, who died of acute alcohol toxicity outside a Debenhams store last February (Bristol Post/SWNS)

A cardboard gravestone has been erected outside a shop doorway to honour a homeless man who died outside.

Adam Zajac was found unconscious under his sleeping bag outside a Debenhams store in February last year.

The makeshift gravestone, which was placed in Bristol City Centre, reads: “RIP Adam Zajac 1977-2018. He died in this doorway, as shoppers walked by. He was homeless. Remember him.”

It was the second one of its type seen in the city centre over the past fortnight, with both paying tribute to a homeless person who died while rough sleeping.

On 5 February 2018, emergency services were called to the store after concerned members of the public saw Zajac unconscious.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem found he died of acute alcohol toxicity.

Earlier this month, a similar gravestone was also made for Deborah Morris, which read: “Her body was found in a tent in this park. She was homeless. Remember her.”

Zajac was said to be a well-known and well-liked rough sleeper in the city and at the time was the sixth known rough sleeper to have died in Bristol in the last year, according to Bristol Live.

In 2017, 17 homeless people died in Bristol, accounting for approximately a third of homeless deaths across the entire of the southwest.

According to the Office of National Statistics, Bristol also had the third highest number of deaths in England and Wales, alongside Lambeth, south London and Liverpool.

SWNS