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Fundraiser for homeless man after he guards bag for stranger

Over £9,000 has been raised for a homeless man and charities after a Facebook post about him guarding a woman's handbag containing over £400 wasn't stolen.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Dec 2017, 19:02 BST
Updated 15th Dec 2017, 19:14 BST
Mr McGeown with the owner of the handbagMr McGeown with the owner of the handbag
Mr McGeown with the owner of the handbag

James John McGeown noticed a car with an open window outside Glasgow Sheriff Court, with a bag containing £400 in cash in full view to passing opportunist thieves.

Mr McGeown decided to guard the bag for over two and a half hours, despite the torrential rain, before eventually entrusting it to a solicitor’s office nearby.

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The bag and the cash belonged to Alyshia Orford, who found a note explaining what had happened when he returned to the car with her colleague John McMonagle, who decided to share the story.

Mr McMonagle posted on Facebook: “He was so cold he took the bag and rummaged through it to see if there was any ID.

“There wasn’t so the building behind was a solicitors office Browns, he took the bag and held it to the receptionist and explained telling them there was £400 in the bag he explained there was also money in the car, the receptionist called the police and this is when I arrived.”

The duo set out to raise £5000 for Mr McGeown personally, and anything over and above would be split between him and a charity in Glasgow.

At the time of writing, over £9,000 had been raised on the GoFundMe page that Mr McMonagle set up.

He later added as an update: “I’ve just driven James to Turning Point in Glasgow where he has volunteered to go on a three week de-tox programme he understands the huge support he has now received from around the UK.”

The Facebook post has been shared over 1,500 times.