A TOWN centre drinker has vowed to dry out and get out of Swindon after two of his drinking buddies died from liver failure.

Nicholas Davis, 39, known as Doggo, says the deaths of his mates Scott Hunter – who was cremated on Tuesday – and Patrick King who was laid to rest two weeks ago, have shaken him to the core.

Magistrates slapped lifetime anti-social behaviour orders on Mr Davis and friend Mr Dunne in March forbidding them from drinking, being drunk, sleeping rough or associating with each other in the town centre.

Speaking before the funeral service for Mr Hunter, Mr Davis said he had had enough of booze and did not want to die like his friends.

Mr Davis, who has two children, “I am looking for a move to Bournemouth or Plymouth into a residential rehabilitation – the search for that begins on April 24. We had been drinking between six and eight one-litre bottles of sherry a day and it is just getting to be too much.

“My mates have passed away and no one cares, so I am going to take this opportunity and get clean and get the hell out of Swindon – I will never come back either.

“I will be gone never to be seen again. There is too much hassle from police.”

Mr Davis, who lives in Culvery Court in the town centre, was given a drug rehabilitation requirement order last Thursday after he was caught wandering the town with a chair leg with rows of screws attached to it.

However, he claimed that he has been assaulted on a number of occasions over the past few months and he was only carrying the weapon, described as resembling a medieval mace in court, to protect himself.

He added: “That is another thing I want to get away from. I don’t want violence in my life, and maybe if I can get away from people who know me around town I can get away from that part of my life.

“In my time in Swindon I have broken into thousands of cars, been in court hundreds of times and used up to a hundred pounds worth of heroin a day, “But I am still here and I have kicked the drugs – now I got to get rid of the booze.

“If I can get away from Swindon maybe I can do that.”