A 20 year-old Redruth man repeatedly breached a restraining order to confront one ex-girlfriend and cheated another out of £250, a court has heard.

Connor Opie, of Clinton Road, Redruth, lost £250 of Shannon Jenkins' money by using her card for gambling without her knowledge, prosecutor Alison May told magistrates in Truro.

On June 28, Opie pleaded guilty to fraud with a debit card belonging to Ms Jenkins, and to breaching a restraining order not to contact Kayleigh Donaghue.

Ms May, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Opie had breached a court restraining order not to contact Ms Donahue, with whom he had previously been in a relationship, on a number of occasions, and on June 12 had confronted her in Redruth, asking if she was with someone else, saying she was the only girl he had ever loved. She was stressed by this and told the police she could not go anywhere without him turning up.

The June offence was the third breach of the restraining order, made in April this year.

His relationship with Ms Jenkins, which was a short one, had broken down, but restarted in April, and she found he had been using her card on gambling sites, causing her a loss of £250.

Paul Simons, for Opie, said he was an obsessive, compulsive young man with learning difficulties. There was no malice in him at all, and he occasionally did stupid things. He had been gambling since he was 16 and it had got him into difficulties, chasing his losses.

“He is lovable, but silly”, he said.

Opie was given an 18 weeks prison sentence suspended for 18 months, told to attend the Senior Attendance Centre for 36 hours, pay compensation of £250 to Ms Jenkins, and £200 costs and charges.