Huge turnout as charity 'sleepout' on coldest night of the year raises more than £3.6m for homeless

More than 8,000 people slept rough in freezing conditions to raise money to tackle homelessness.

The Sleep in the Park event - billed as the “world’s biggest sleepout” - took place in Edinburgh on Saturday night, on the coldest night of the year.

Participants have pledged to fundraise at least £100 each and more than £3.6m of the £4m target has been raised so far.

Crowds enjoyed performances by Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, Amy Macdonald and Frightened Rabbit, as well as a bedtime story read by John Cleese.

Comedian Rob Brydon hosted the event, which was attended by Bob Geldof and Scottish deputy first minister John Swinney.

The event was organised by Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, which supports the homeless through cafes, a restaurant and fundraising events.

“This is the night that we collectively gave a voice to the people who have never had one,” Mr Littlejohn said.

“There are 11,000 homeless households in Scotland. When I think about all of the amazing different people, sleeping in this garden tonight, the one thing that strikes me about these statistics of homelessness is that they are not insurmountable.”