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Friends take homeless man to darts championship

Craig Wells A group of eight men strike celebratory poses inside a venue with customer tables. Seven of them wear Mexican costumes, including embroidered jackets, a cape or sombreros. An older man in the centre is wearing a hat but not the other fancy dress items. Craig Wells
The friends gave the man food and drink all evening before booking him into a hotel

A group of friends have taken a homeless man to the PDC World Darts Championship in London.

The men, from Bournemouth, Dorset, had a spare ticket to the sports event at Alexandra Palace.

Rather than reselling it, they decided to give it to a homeless man in London and then proceeded to pay for his food and drink all evening as well as giving him a hotel room for the night.

One of the men, Craig Wells, said: "It's not about the money. We could have got £75 back but he really enjoyed it... and he'll remember it for the rest of his life."

The friends, all dressed in Mexican costumes, came up with the idea while drinking at a London venue before Wednesday's event.

Craig Wells Craig Wells, who wears a sombrero, has his arm around his homeless guest John in a selfie. John is older and wears Paddy Power headgear. Both men are smiling.Craig Wells
Craig Wells said the homeless man, called John, would remember the night for the rest of his life

Mr Wells said: "We had one pull-out and rather than selling the ticket back, my friend Jamie said: 'Why don't you take the homeless guy?', which was sat outside the boozer at the time.

"So he went out and got him. We just said to him: 'What are you doing tonight?' He said: 'Not a lot', and he started laughing at us.

"And so we went and bought him a pint of Guinness and said: 'You might as well come with us.'

"The only thing we didn't have was a sombrero for him."

The friends' guest, a Scotsman called John, turned out to be a darts fan.

Mr Wells explained: "He said to a friend of mine, it's been on his bucket list - he'd always wanted to go to the darts.

"The funny thing was, they did a bull's-eye competition... and he ended up getting a free drink from that.

"We were all trying and he comes along, pops his first dart into the bull's eye. You couldn't make it up.

"At least we fulfilled his dream. He hasn't got a lot in life but he's got something to remember now."

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