ROUGH sleepers were ordered off Devizes Cemetery on Monday following complaints by nearby residents.

A man and woman slept in a tent overnight on Sunday in the town council-owned cemetery before being asked to move off the following day.

Devizes Town Council staff asked them to leave after a complaint and they were gone by Monday afternoon although the tent was left behind.

The town council, which, with Roundway Parish Council, owns the cemetery, has received complaints before along with reports of property stolen from graves and people taking drugs, noise and anti-social behaviour.

Deputy town clerk Simon Fisher said: “We believe they are local people who are sleeping rough as they have fallen on bad times.”

A small number of people have also been squatting in a derelict house on Dyehouse Lane and pitched tents by the woods along same road.

The site, on the boundary of the cemetery, backs onto land owned by charity Society of Merchant Venturers which has a court order to remove the camp due before a judge on December 16.

This will be third time the society has gone to court over camping on their land, the last time being in December 2013.

After a meeting recently Devizes Town Council, Wiltshire Council, the police and Open Door, a group run by Devizes churches to help the homeless, are working together to deal with the issue.

Eddie Sims, Open Door chairman, said: “When they are moved on these people will just go to another part of Devizes. The cemetery is not appropriate.”