TWO drug users abused the hospitality of an elderly man who reluctantly agreed to take them in, a court heard.

The couple repaid the 80-year-old’s generosity by intercepting and using his newly issued bank card, running up a bill of £529.36 within a few days, in late March.

Durham Crown Court heard that when the account holder became concerned at the apparent non-arrival of the card he had applied for, the bank informed him that it had been issued.

It then emerged that it had been used for a number of small purchases and the victim’s suspicions fell on his ‘lodgers’, Edward Arthur Mould and Kim Elliott.

He reported matters to police and asked the pair to leave, but they kept returning, pestering him to persuade the police to drop the case, and implying they would repay the money.

Andrew White, prosecuting, said the investigation continued and cctv at the relevant shops where the purchases were made using the victim’s card, revealed it was used by the defendants.

Mould, 34, and his 35-year-old partner, both of South Street, South Moor, Stanley, admitted charges of fraud and harassment. Mould also admitted theft of the bank card.

In an impact statement, the victim described the pair as “devious” and said they had made him look like, “an old fool”.

It continued: “They came to my house seeking shelter, which I grudgingly gave them, but then they took my money.

“I don’t have a lot, but they left me with £30 to last nearly a week.”

He added that it exacerbated health problems from which he suffered and he has since worried that they would one day return.

The court heard that the money has since been retrieved through benefit payments made to Elliott, which passed through the victim’s bank account.

Lewis Kerr, for Mould, and Andrew Finlay, for Elliott, said they were both long-standing drug users, which had led them to commit many previous “low level” crimes, including theft, to pay for their habit.

The court heard Mould previously defrauded the same victim, of £400, in 2014.

Imposing prison sentences of 15 months, on Mould, and 13 months, on Elliott, Judge Jonathan Carroll said the pair, “deliberately target a vulnerable old man”, whose hospitality they took advantage of, for their own benefit.

The judge also put in place an unlimited restraining order, forbidding either from contacting the victim.