RESIDENTS of a close knit South Brent community say it has been ‘torn apart’ by the ‘stupidity’ of a trusted neighbour.

In Plymouth Magis-trate’s Court last Thursday, Crowder Meadow resident Trevor Palmer, 22, was found guilty of defrauding close neighbour and friend Keith Edyveane out of £1,038.

Palmer had added his 81-year-old neighbour’s card details to his own PayPal account, and gone on an online spending spree involving 53 separate transactions over several weeks.

The magistrate ordered Palmer to pay £1,038 in compensation, and fined him £200.

He also has to pay a victim surcharge of £20 and costs of £310 to the Crown Prosecution Service – £1,568 in total, in £100-a-month instalments.

Keith and Kevin Skelly, another close neighbour, spoke to the Gazette in the wake of Palmer’s conviction. Both attended court last week to listen to proceedings.

Keith said: ‘I thought he was a good friend. He used to help me out in the garden all the time, and he drove me down to Cornwall to see family – although I always paid the expenses.

‘It’s sad really, in a way. He’s ruined his own life.

‘I lent him £1,300 just before this happened as well, but we got two different stories about what he needed it for. He said rent arrears to me, but we believe the truth is he owed it to loan sharks, as he told Kevin.

‘If I thought I had any chance of getting it back, I would try. But if it costs a couple of hundred to take him to court, I’d just be chucking that money away.

‘I wonder if he regrets it now? We were very friendly before. Really, I think the best thing for him would be to move away. We won’t be friends again.

‘It’s just sad. If he’d only come over to me and shaken my hand, I probably wouldn’t even have gone to the police.’

Palmer was found out when Keith received his bank statement and thought ‘Bloody hell, that’s not all mine’.

Kevin recalled: ‘That’s how it’s connected to me. Trev owed me £100, and he asked if he could pay with PayPal.

‘I said yes, why not, and got the money, no problem.

‘Then it was, he wanted to buy a fishtank, but he was £125 short.

He asked me, if he gave me £100 with PayPal, could I buy it for him, and I agreed.

‘But then three weeks later Keith saw his bank statement, and my sister, who lives next door to Keith, saw £100 and £125 through PayPal on the statement, and put two and two together.

‘It’s so stupid. The PayPal account was set up in his own name, and with the delivery address as his own. The police took some stuff he’d bought away, and advised him to pay the money back to people, so I did get it back, but we carried on to try and get Keith’s money back.

‘We can’t trust him anymore. He’s done it far too close to home. I don’t mind helping anybody if they need a hand, but I can’t believe he’d do that in return.

‘He’s ruined it here for everybody. Our little community has been torn apart.’