A veteran says he was forced to share toilets and showers with addicts at a homeless centre after a serious cancer operation.

Ex-soldier David Nixon felt “messed around” by Leeds City Council and "let-down" by the system after he says he was made to stay in St George’s Crypt, an emergency accommodation for homeless people in the city centre. The 62-year-old, who fought for the British Army, serving in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and in The Falklands, where he saw a comrade’s leg blown off, said his experience at the crypt was so harrowing, he felt suicidal.

David, originally from Doncaster, suffers with bladder cancer. He had an operation to remove his bladder in Leeds, before he was discharged to the shelter in early October. Where he has now been fitted with a stoma bag is highly susceptible to infection.

At St George’s Crypt, he says he was made to share an unclean bathroom with around 10 people, including drug abusers and alcoholics. Leeds City Council has said David has since been...