A man who lost all his worldly possessions in a fire at a homeless shelter has thanked the community for coming together after the disaster.

Andrew Johnston was in his room at the Braintree Emergency Night Shelter (BENS) in the High Street when the blaze took hold on February 11.

He got out through a fire escape while another resident, Mitch Cook, 47, was forced to jump naked from a top floor window onto the roof of a bus.

The 53-year-old said: “I have lost every single thing I have built up over the last 30 years in that building, including my cat J-Zee.

“I was in the middle block. The fire alarm went off. I opened the door and it was thick, black smoke which had so much vapour in it, it burnt you.

“When I got out I was talking to Mitch, he was willing to jump straight onto the path because he was burning to death.”

He added: “There are a lot of people who need recognition.

“The woman who phoned the fire brigade, the man who came across with the fire extinguisher, the man who came out with a pair of trousers for poor old Mitch."

See this week's Times for the full story.