Justice officials are facing growing calls to scrap laws which criminalise homelessness , after disturbing new figures revealed they have been used more than previously thought.
Last month the Belfast Telegraph reported that 45 people had been convicted in Northern Ireland s courts since 2015 using the Vagrancy Act 1824.
This Act was brought in to make it easier for police to remove destitute soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars from the streets, and it makes it an offence to sleep rough or beg.
It has now emerged, however, that another piece of legislation, the Vagrancy Act 1847, is also being used to prosecute rough sleepers and those begging.
Pressure is growing to repeal a law that "criminalises homelessness" after it emerged that 45 people had been convicted in Northern Ireland s courts under the Vagrancy Act since 2015.