A HOMELESS ex-soldier whose heartbreaking appeal for help over Christmas went viral has been unmasked as a sex offender who tried to rape an OAP.

Twisted Northern Ireland veteran Steve Rowe accused the government of "forgetting their own" after sleeping rough in London - but was jailed in 2006 after trying to rape an 87-year-old widow.

The perv ex-builder was described as a "danger to women" after forcing himself on the pensioner when he called to give her a quote.

Steve, who says he ended up on the streets after the trauma of his son's death, said MPs are too focused on Brexit to care about the thousands of rough sleepers in Britain.

He told Channel 4 News: “I’m asking for help. I’m not getting it. So what do I do? Where do I go?

“I lost a son, which just… hit me. You can take a bullet for the Queen, you can die for the country but I couldn’t save my son.

“There are so many ex-forces guys on the streets who are going through the same thing.

“What they have done, the country, have forgotten their own.

“The government are more concerned about this Europe business and this Brexit business than they are their own people.

“And here we are sleeping tents and sleeping in boxes. I’ve asked for help – so why won’t they give it to me?

“They trained us well, right? We can survive anything. But what we can’t survive is confusion and we can’t survive rejection and we can’t survive loneliness.

“Please just give me a bed.”

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "We were made aware of Steven – as we believed he was called – by a charity supporting homeless veterans.

"It has since emerged that he previously went by the same name but with a different spelling and that he has a more complicated past, in addition to what was broadcast.

"Under the circumstances, we have decided to remove his story from our website.

"However we will remain in contact with the charity to ensure that he receives the help that he needs.

"The Go-Fund-Me page which was set up for him is no longer accepting donations.

"All funds received will be shared among two charities that support homeless veterans and refunds are also being offered."