Tributes are paid to man found dead outside Boots in Blackburn

Anthony Judson, of Haslingden, was tidying the grounds of the Townsmoor Retail Park on Saturday morning, when he spotted the man outside the Boots store.

Mr Judson said: “I work for a company who do work keeping the grounds of commercial properties clean and the retail park was one of my sites to clean that morning.

“As I was making my way to the top end of the car park where the shops are I saw a man sat down outside Boots.

“I could see he wasn’t moving so I shouted to him three times and he still didn’t move. I approached him and that’s when I realised there was no movement at all. I knew then that he had died.”

The 62-year-old said he then moved away and called the police and the ambulance, before covering the man with a towel from his car.

The police arrived on the scene shortly after, before paramedics confirmed the man’s death.

Mr Judson added: “He had no gloves on; he must’ve been so cold. I really do think he perished from the weather. I suspect he had been out there all night.

“I see a lot of homeless people in my job and I don’t know the man’s circumstances but he looked quite young. It’s so sad to see something like this happen and I was in a state of shock and I still am. It’s something that I’m going to find very hard to get over.

“Something needs to be done about homelessness in this country. We’re approaching 2019 and if it was 1919 where there were no benefits or anything you could understand there being a lot of homeless people, but not today. It’s just really sad.”

Police were called to the incident just before 7am on Saturday. A cordon was set up around the scene before the man’s body was removed just after lunch time.

Body found outside Boots on Townsmoor Retail Park, Blackburn

A police spokesman said: “We received a call from a passer-by who had found the man’s body.

“Officers attended the scene and found a man, thought to be in his thirties who had sadly died.

“We have yet to establish the identity of the man but his death is not being treated as suspicious.”

Shoppers have speculated that the man may have been homeless and one shopper, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s so sad, I hope it wasn’t a homeless man, it’s so cold out here and it was freezing last night.

“It must’ve been awful for him.”

On Sunday morning flowers had been placed closed to the scene and staff from the neighbouring Costa coffee shop were among those to leave tributes to the man.

One of their messages recalled how his smile would light up their days.

An investigation is underway to establish how the man died.