WORKERS at the youth club in Churchill Gardens told how the youngsters were once playing rounders when a man they believed to be asleep on the grass was found to have collapsed and died.

Youth worker Adrian Griffiths said the challenge for them is “breaking the cycle” of youngsters getting involved in drugs.

Mr Churchill, a zone leader of Bournemouth’s integrated youth services, said he was not surprised by the boy’s pictures due to what he sees in the area.

“Hopefully regeneration is coming this way,” he said.

Boscombe is always a high area of deprivation and we are trying to improve services for young people.”

Mr Griffiths said as the houses overlooking Churchill Gardens are most commonly houses of multiple occupancy, an estimated 1,000 residents overlook the park from their homes.

He is hoping improvements seen at Boscombe Cresent and Roumelia Lane can spread to other parts of Boscombe. “The people in the boy’s pictures are adults and drugs and prostitution go hand in hand,” he added.

“People who end up involved in drugs and prostitution start somewhere and we’ve got to find these people when they are young to prevent this.”