A 41-year-old man cheated two people out of more than £100 each after pretending to sell them cameras online.

Steven Torney, of McGregor Avenue in Stevenston, appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week and pled guilty to two charges of Fraud.

The court heard that on August 1 last year, the first witness was searching on Gumtree for a camera when he spotted one at £105. He contacted the seller via Gumtree and a sale was arranged. The seller provided an account number and sort code in order for the payment to be made. The buyer then attended his bank to arrange to have the money transferred to his account.

There was no further contact from the seller and no camera arrived. The man contacted Action Fraud to investigate.

The court then heard that on August 9, another witness began searching Gumtree also looking for a digital camera when one caught his attention. He contacted the seller via Gumtree and a sale was agreed at £210. Bank details were provided, and the court heard that these were the same details which were given to the first witness.

After the customer transferred £210 to the relevant account, the seller contacted him to tell him the money had been received and that the camera had been posted. But the camera never arrived. This matter was also reported to Action Fraud by the buyer.

Matters were referred to police and the relevant documents were obtained from Action Fraud. The details provided showed that the account belonged to a woman in Stevenston.

On June 29 of this year, police attended the address related to the bank details. Torney answered the door and stated: “It’s not her you’re looking for, it’s me. She knows nothing about it.” Officers asked him if he knew why they were there. Torney replied: “Gumtree fraud.” He then stated that he set up the bank account in his partner’s name.

Defending Torney, Ms Malloy said that her client had no previous convictions and asked Sheriff Michael Hanlon to consider reports.

She added: “I understand he has no income at the moment. He is due to start a college course later this year and he will get money form a student loan. He can pay a fine at that point.”

Sheriff Hanlon agreed to defer sentence until August 14 in order to obtain a Restriction of Liberty Assessment and a Criminal Justice Social Work Report.

Torney was ordained to appear at the court on that date for sentencing.