Furious couple left with crippling £4,000 bill after neighbour, 51, fitted secret device to divert electric supply into his home
- Leslie Pirie fitted device to split power supply and hid it behind a picture
- Upstairs neighbours Hugh and Tracy Torrance left with power bills of £10 per day, forcing them to borrow money from their daughter
- Pirie given eight years to pay back cash to the Torrances after admitting stealing electricity for three years
A baffled couple were left facing exorbitant energy bills - unaware that their next door neighbour was stealing thousands of pounds of electricity from them.
Electrician Leslie Pirie set up an elaborate system to divert the supply into his own home while the neighbours were left to pay the £4,000 bill.
Hugh Torrance, 52, and his 46-year-old wife Tracy said their bills were so high that they were forced to get their teenage daughter to work to help fund the payments to the supplier.
When investigators were called in to look at the unusually high charges, they immediately realised the family were paying for the energy supply to their own home and to Pirie’s.
They discovered that Pirie had cut a hole in the plasterboard to hide a blocker device and had covered it up by hanging a framed picture in front of it.
Leslie Pirie outside Dundee Sheriff Court where he admitted to stealing electricity from his upstairs neighbours for three years
The 51-year-old admitted stealing £4,000 of electricity from the Torrances next door in Tayport. He admitted scamming them for more than three years between 18 July 2017 and 20 August 2020.
Pirie, who still lives next door to the couple, was ordered to pay the full amount in compensation, but was given more than eight years to pay it back at £40 per month.
He was admonished by Sheriff Morag Fraser.
Fiscal depute Kate Scarborough told Dundee Sheriff Court: ‘The accused is essentially the downstairs neighbour of Mr and Mrs Torrance and had been for some time.
‘The complainers became aware of their electricity bills becoming increasingly and unusually high. They contacted the electricity provider and the council and investigations were carried out.
‘This led to a house visit to the properties and that revealed there had been Henley blocks added to the power supply. This device was splitting off the supply from the complainers’ to the accused’s property.
‘They had an electric smart meter fitted and that is how they were able to keep track of top-ups. The Henley blocks were found in the accused’s property behind a picture frame.
‘When the picture frame was moved, a portion of the dry wall had been cut out and the Henley blocks were fitted into the hole. Analysis revealed the value of the electricity diverted to the accused was £4,000.’
Pirie hid a device called Henley blocks to divert the electricity supply from the Torrances' home to his own
Solicitor John Boyle, defending, said: ‘I suspect the money has not been reimbursed so they are essentially out of pocket to the tune of £4,000. They still remain neighbours, but obviously they are not on particularly good terms.
‘The council are aware of this and prior to this coming to light there were already steps being taken to remove him from the property. It is a three-bedroom property, but since the death of his mother in 2010 he has been the only resident.
‘The council have been trying to have him removed and I suspect this will be the final nail in the coffin. He has expressed his willingness to compensate them, but that would be in modest instalments. He is not working.’
Outside court, Mr Torrance, a boat builder, said: ‘We put in a pre-pay meter and it was using £10 a day or more. My daughter was giving me money just to keep us going.
‘In 2020 an electrician came out to look at it and he knew straight away what had been going on. They went in his house and found a hole cut out in the wall. His meter was at zero for ages.’
Lab assistant Mrs Torrance said: ‘We thought he was alright, quiet, just a nice guy. I just feel really disappointed. We never got paid back anything because this happened after the meter.’
