More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
by Tom Pyman and Paul Hooper
A businessman set up a camera in his bedroom to snare a crook who repeatedly pocketed money from his home - only to find the thief was his best friend of 25 years.
Michael Williams spoke of suffering "a huge betrayal" when he discovered Billy Smith stealing the cash, just days after asking him to look after the Larkfield property while his family were on holiday.
Footage captures Billy Smith red-handed
Smith, 32, admitted four offences of burglary committed between May and June this year, taking nearly £4,000 to pay off debts for his cocaine habit, but avoided jail when he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court.
Mr Williams told KentOnline's sister paper the Kent Messenger this week how the boyhood friends, who went to Lunsford Primary School together, remained pals into their adult lives, working as colleagues at Larkfield Leisure Centre and playing in the same football teams.
Pictures of Smith - who asked his mate to be a godfather to his own daughter - proudly adorned the walls of the Williams family home in Macaulay Close where Jude, three, and 15-month-old Eden would regularly smile and hug the man they affectionately called "Bibby".
But those photos have since been taken down, ripped up and thrown in the bin as part of the process of removing any memory of him from their lives.
Prosecutor Mary Jacobson told the court how Smith had initially house-sat for the family in February before targetting their home three months later when they were again on holiday.
Mr Williams, who owns an artificial lawn company, had left £1,000 relating to his business in a drawer, but when he returned the cash was not there and he assumed he had simply misplaced it.
However, when a further £700 was discovered missing two weeks later, Mr Williams installed a camera and caught his oldest and dearest friend in the act of stealing more money.
"It was a huge betrayal of trust, I didn't think he'd ever stoop that low," the dad-of-two said.
"He was in our wedding pictures, we had photos of him in the front room and on the stairs, holding the kids. We were really, really close and it taints all those memories.
"We've been saving up because we want to take the kids to Disneyland when they're older - so it's not just me and my wife he's stolen from, he's taken money away from the boys who loved and adored him. That's what hurt me the most.
"If he was having money problems and had just come to me, I'd have tried to help him, I'd never shy away from that.
"But now I don't ever want to see him again, I feel that let down. I don't think I'll ever forgive him."
Smith, of care-of Eaton Place, Aylesford, was given a one-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 180 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirements to address his drug problem.
He was ordered to repay Mr Williams £3,984 at the rate of £100 a week and was made subject to an indefinite restraining order.
The thief told the court: "I know what I did was the lowest of the low and inexcusable, not just for what I have done but the breach of trust alone.
"I know I can't ever put that right but I can put right what I have taken if given the opportunity to do so."
Smith declined to comment further when approached by KentOnline.
