An up-and-coming filmmaker who had decided to live on the streets for a week to document the plight of the local homeless population was found dead inside a boarded-up hostel just three days after his experiment began.
Though an official cause of death has yet to be released, friends of 26-year-old Lee Halpin believed he froze to death after overnight temperatures in Newcastle (UK) dipped well below zero degrees Celsius (32F).
Halpin, who had an MA in creative writing and was the founder of a magazine on North East culture, intended to use the week-long documentary to apply for a spot in Channel 4's highly competitive Investigative Journalism Program.
---
"He made the ultimate sacrifice trying to raise awareness about what was happening to other people," said pal Daniel Lake.
---
