AN OXFORD academic spent “countless hours” among the city’s rough sleepers teasing out their often heartbreaking life stories.

Now Riki Therivel hopes her chronicles of the “overwhelming and shocking” experiences of 12 of them can help change the public’s perceptions of homelessness.

The North Hinksey woman’s book, Not Just Homeless, was inspired by thoughts she had when encountering rough sleepers on the streets.

She said: “I would think to myself – ‘how come that person isn’t working, or why are they begging?’.

“Then you hear their stories and you suddenly understand – if someone has had such a terrible childhood, or a disaster in their lives. You can see why they are where they are.

“I thought by sharing their stories, people could see more than just the homeless person.”

Ms Therivel, who has lived in the city for 27 years, spent countless hours talking to people living in homeless shelters.

They included 50-year-old Ricardo Baker, who was part of a London gang from the age of 14 and served nearly 20 years in prison for armed robbery and firearm offences.

He told her: “I have seen a lifetime full of hurt, pain and hell. I just thought ‘I don’t want to do it any more’.

“I have been trying to do a U-turn and change my life for 20 years.”

Ms Therivel did not want her name on the book so readers would solely concentrate on the 12 who tell their stories.

But getting people to speak to her was not easy for the Oxford Brookes University academic.

She said: “Some people came to me, but some I had to really try to get to speak to me, which is understandable, as some didn’t want to.

“I sat here for an hour-and-a-half for three weeks in a row and no one wanted to talk to me.

“One or two people would write stuff down and they would be crying writing their story.

“I would try to use as much of their own phrases. I found it really interesting.”

Ms Therivel first began gathering people’s life stories at O’Hanlon House homeless shelter, in Luther Street.

Each story is different, with some people talking about their tough childhoods, while others tell how they lost everything in moments. The book also touches on the current homeless service situation in Oxford.

* Not Just Homeless is on sale in Blackwells book store and at the Crisis cafe.