The homeless man who befriended British tourist Hannah Almond in Peru when she was robbed and left penniless on the streets has tragically died.
Hannah spent around a month living under a bridge with the elderly vagrant and was filmed desperately trying to stop officials taking him away in a car after aggressive locals forced the pair to move and burned their belongings.
The 32-year-old fashion graduate from Grimsby was then tracked down by a friend who travelled to Cusco from his home in Lima after he learned of her desperate situation.
She is expected to be flown back to the UK to continue her recovery from mental health problems, said to have been a contributing factor to the horror situation she found herself in after travelling to the South American country on a yoga retreat to ‘find herself.’
Overnight it emerged the elderly man she has spent much of the last few weeks with died at a charity-run OAP home he had been taken to after a brief stay at a hostel.
He is understood to have been found dead in his bed yesterday, with local media reporting he died after contracting bronchial pneumonia.
Local authorities have confirmed that the man, known by locals as the ‘grandfather under the bridge’, has yet to be identified.
They are now expected to try to find out who he is with fingerprint tests as part of an autopsy and a possible public appeal. If he cannot be formally identified he is likely to be buried in a pauper’s grave.
It is not yet clear whether Hannah, whose mental health is known to be unstable, has been told the devastating news about the man described as the sole person she trusted after ending up on the streets.
Hannah Almond befriended an elderly homeless man (pictured together) and the pair sheltered together in a makeshift camp under the Belén Bridge in Cusco
Hannah, 32, a fashion graduate from Grimsby, was left stranded, penniless and unable to reliably contact her family after the attack
Last Thursday, Hannah and the man were violently removed by a group of merchants on Avenue Ejército, according to witnesses
All of her belongings were burnt (above) when she was robbed in Peru
During their time sheltering together beneath Cusco’s Belén Bridge, local media reports that Hannah treated the elderly man’s wounds and shared food with him.
Then last Thursday, Hannah and the man were violently removed by a group of merchants on Avenue Ejército, who pushed them, threatened them with sticks, and then burned all their belongings, according to witnesses.
The scenes sparked outrage across the city and forced police to intervene, with video later showing the elderly man being put into a police vehicle before he was taken to the home.
The man had been the only person Hannah trusted, with the trauma from the attack leaving her too scared to accept help from embassy officials.
She was eventually found on Sunday by Piero Villanueva, who she had met briefly in Lima and who travelled to Cusco to look for her after MailOnline raised awareness of her plight. She is expected to return to the UK soon.
Henry Gonzales, a legal advisor for a Cusco public beneficence department, confirmed Hannah’s friend’s death, saying he had been admitted to the OAP residence where he died with the initials NN which stand for Ningun Nombre or No Name in English.
He also claimed the homeless man had appeared to be okay health-wise when local authorities took him in, adding: ‘He had already been assigned a bed and a room in his new residence.’
The dead man’s body is now at a morgue in Cusco. There is nothing at this stage pointing to his death being crime-related.
A GoFundMe appeal set up by friends of Hannah’s to help her get back to the UK from Peru before she vanished after her forced eviction now stands at nearly 95 per cent of its £10,000 target.
Video showed the elderly man being put into a police vehicle before he was taken to the home
‘Hannah recognised me and approached me crying and I asked her to leave with me. Thank God she’s safe,’ Piero Villanueva told local TV. Pictured: The two are after the rescue
She was found earlier this week after briefly going missing by Piero Villanueva who spent time with her in Lima after she arrived in Peru in March before she moved on to Cusco.
Hannah’s pal Sophie Wallace had revealed on the GoFundMe page before her worrying disappearance late last week: ‘Hannah travelled to Peru in March hoping for an adventure but instead she has found herself in a terrifying and heartbreaking situation.
‘She was robbed and assaulted, losing her passport, phone, and all of her money.
‘Since then Hannah’s mental health, something she has long struggled with, has severely declined.
‘She is now in the midst of a mental health crisis, living under a bridge with a homeless man she befriended, the only person she currently trusts.
Mr Villanueva (left) travelled to Cusco to help Hannah Almond (right) after he learned of her ordeal
Ms Almond had been in Peru since March on a yoga retreat
‘Despite attempts to help her through official channels, Hannah is deeply fearful and unable to accept support from the embassy or local authorities.
‘She is extremely vulnerable, isolated, and not safe living on the streets of Peru.’
Local traders were filmed pushing and threatening the former Leeds Beckett University fine arts student before she disappeared after complaining about her ‘aggressive’ behaviour towards them.
Mark Atkinson, the British Consul in Peru, told local media Hannah arrived in Cusco in early March as a tourist and did not plan to overstay her visa as he revealed her immigration status was now in limbo.
He said before she sparked fears for her safety by vanishing that the embassy had coordinated help with local police and offered direct support including hotel accommodation and food, but she kept returning to the same bridge she had been sleeping under before her forced eviction.
