Former council worker guilty of trying to poison homeless people in park

A former north Queensland council worker has been found guilty of trying to poison homeless people in a park.

Neville Douglas Welsh, 65, had been accused of deliberately leaving iced coffee bottles filled with methylated spirits and weed killer around Townsville's Dean Park.

A Townsville District Court jury found him guilty of attempting to injure by noxious substance.

The former Townsville City Council worker will be sentenced in the same court on Wednesday.

During the time of the incident, Welsh had been employed as a street cleaner.

Groups of homeless people were known to congregate in the city park.