A man used his neighbour’s bank card to order more than £7,500 of goods from Amazon in the space of just over a month.

John Cottrell had been given access to his neighbour Leon Halton’s bank card when he kindly said he would order a lawnmower for him during lockdown in 2020 when the shops were only selling essential items.

Mr Halton then set up an account on Amazon and ordered the mower for his trusted neighbour and had paid for the item on his HSBC card. He thought that was the end of it.

But days later, Cottrell started ordering random items on the site using Mr Halton’s HSBC card, getting the goods sent directly to his home.

Medway Magistrates’ Court heard that between April 4, and May 27, 2020 Cottrell ordered an array of goods including, printer ink, A4 printer paper, fish food, a WWE belt, coffee capsules, bath bombs, extension leads, an android tablet, a fan, a water-drinking fountain, suits and clothes.

His spending spree only came to light in May that year when Mr Halton got an alert from his bank to tell him he had gone into his agreed overdraft and he didn’t have enough money to pay for things he needed.

He knew there had been at least £5,000 in the account before then and made inquiries and found out his card had been used to pay for the goods which had been delivered to his neighbour.

Cottrell, of Fallowfield, Sittingbourne, was later charged with fraud by false representation and initially pleaded not guilty to the allegation.

However, on the day he was due to stand trial over the matter in August 2021, he changed his plea to guilty.

Cottrell returned to Medway Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, October 25 to be sentenced.

Magistrates heard Mr Halton was retired and had been being careful with his money and had tried to get the cash refunded into his account, but had not been able to prove his card had been used by someone else in the time frame the bank demanded.

Rajni Prashar, prosecuting, also told the court Mr Halton had felt his neighbour had abused his trust and had spent in total £7,700 on his bank card.

She added: “They are neighbours and the defendant’s lawnmower was broken and he wanted a new one.

“On May 18, he was contacted by the bank to say he was now using his agreed overdraft. He thought he had enough money in the bank.”

Miss Prashar also told the court it was at this point Cottrell’s deception came to light and that the money had been spent on Amazon orders sent to his address that he had ordered using Mr Halton’s card.

Magistrates were also told Cottrell had severe learning difficulties and wasn’t told he couldn’t keep ordering items during the Covid lockdown, but now regrets doing it and didn’t intend to spend that much.

The court also heard he no longer talks to his neighbour and had taken steps to remain inside when Mr Halton was outside so they didn’t interact and that he now had a support worker to help him, but wasn’t supervised at the time he made the purchases.

The bench were told Cottrell’s mother had written out a cheque for £7,700 which he had brought to court to pay back Mr Halton all the money he was owed.

Magistrates decided to place him on a 12-month community order which will see him complete 200 hours of unpaid work and attend 15 rehabilitation sessions with probation.

They also ordered he pay back Mr Halton all the £7,700 he was owed and also ordered he pay a victim surcharge of £95 as well as £85 court costs.