A frail 87-year-old dementia sufferer is comforted by her son in a hotel room after spending a night sleeping rough next to a canal in Birmingham.

Unemployed Darius Nenius, 45, and his mother Irena were made homeless two weeks ago when his benefits stopped and he ran out of money.

The pair salvaged a week in shared accommodation in Handsworth, but from Monday, were forced to sleep on the streets in nothing more than blankets.

‘We spent last night near a canal,’ said Darius, who is originally from Lithuania.

He has now been put up in The Britannia hotel for a couple of nights thanks to Raj Rana, co-founder of Let’s Feed Brum.

‘It was a horrible place,’ he said. ‘There were some rats and drug users around, but what choice have we got?

‘We had some blankets which helped and it was summer. If it was winter it would have been more horrible.

‘My mother is 87-years-old. She’s disabled and has severe dementia.

‘I’ve been living in England for 10 years and in Birmingham for seven years.

‘I can’t go to work, people just say I’m lazy. But if I leave my mum for a long time and something might happen, she doesn’t speak English. This is horrible. I cannot leave her.

‘This upsets me, it upsets mum. City Council refuse to help because my benefits have stopped.

‘I haven’t been working for a long time, my pay slips are from 2012.’

Former warehouse worker Darius has, in his own words, ‘lost everything’ after his wife walked out on him with his nine-year-old son Ridas six years ago.

Darius also took it upon himself to look after his mum Irena, who survived the Second World War, and was left on her own back in Lithuania.

‘It is my duty to care for my mother,’ he said.

After being ordered to leave shared accommodation on Sunday, Darius and Irena made their way to Old Square on Corporation Street to join 150 people who were being served food.

Raj, who organises a soup kitchen six nights a week, said: ‘It’s shocking what they’ve been put through and seeing a woman nearly in her 90s alongside heroin addicts was a rare sight.

‘They told me their story and I called around sheltered housing but everywhere was full. I’ve put them up in a hotel for three days and I’ll get them some new clothes.

With nothing to his name, Darius is currently living off his mother’s pension which pays for food and toiletries but it’s not enough.

‘I’ve spent time picking strawberries for money but my mother needs caring for,’ Darius explained.

‘We just don’t know what to do now. We need help, desperately. Look at us.

‘We’re homeless and I just can’t think of tomorrow or the next day.’

Woman, 87, with dementia forced to sleep outside after being made homeless