A pair of lodgers have been condemned as ’incredibly dishonest and extraordinarily mean’ after they stole from a pensioner who offered them a place to live.

Lewis Pearce and Craig Compton opened an Amazon account in the name of a retired solicitor while he was away on holiday and used it to make purchases for themselves.

Another unidentified thief used online transactions to loot almost £30,000 of his savings, some of which was laundered through the bank account of a friend of Pearce.

The victim of the crime, who is in his 70s and lives in Dawlish, got his money back from the bank but the missing £27,500 was never recovered, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The cash was transferred into the account of the partner of Pearce’s girlfriend’s mother, Lee McDonald, who spent £10,000 of it himself.

Lee McDonald, aged 44, of Victoria Road, Torquay, admitted laundering the £27,000. Compton, aged 26, of Vansittart Road, Torquay, and Pearce, aged 20, of Redlands, Exeter, admitted fraud.

McDonald was jailed for six months, suspended for 18 months and Compton and Pearce were both curfewed for three months and ordered to do 15 and 20 days’ rehabilitation activities.

Compton was also ordered to pay £43.34 compensation and Pearce to pay £210.32 by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC.

He told them: ‘This was incredibly dishonest and extraordinarily mean. I have read the victim personal statement and understandably he feels taken advantage of. He feels distress and anger at people who he trusted.’

Mr Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said Compton and Pearce were lodging at the victim’s home in Dawlish as part of a Housing Association scheme to help young people find accommodation.

They were staying with him in September 2015 when he went on holiday to Turkey. He got back to find an Amazon had been set up using the broadband at his home and both men had made purchases.

His IP address had also been used to set up internet banking on his Halifax account and £27,500 had been transferred out in three tranches.

Police were unable to establish who took the cash but it was laundered through McDonald’s account, with him keeping and spending £10,000 as his reward.

Mr Kevin Hopper for Compton, Mr Jeffrey Segan for Pearce, and Mr Barry White for McDonald, all said their clients had showed remorse and pleaded guilty.

None had previous convictions and all had stayed out of trouble in the two-and-a-half years which it has taken to investigate the case and bring it to court.