Nightmare neighbour was secretly living in my attic watching my every move… What he did next was even more terrifying

KIRSTY Scase was devastated when she realised her home had been broken into – and even more distraught when police told her someone had been secretly living in her attic. The 49-year-old mum tells The Sun how she went on to discover a former friend had committed the ultimate betrayal. Kirsty, 49, was horrified to discover her neighbour was secretly living in her attic, watching her every move Credit: Bauer Media My nightmare neighbour was secretly living in my attic watching my every move… what he did next was even more terrifying Credit: Bauer Media When Kirsty moved to a new area of Essex back in 2013 with her little boy, she was thrilled that her neighbour Paul Girling, was so welcoming. Girling, who was living with his sister, seemed lonely so Kirsty invited him over for cups of tea, dinners and even nights in watching Netflix. Sign up for the Fabulous newsletter Thank you! He even got on well with Kirsty’s six-year-old son. “They would play fight in the garden and he was fun to be around,” says Kirsty. “It was nice to have a friend in our new area. “‘I invited him over for a cuppa one day and sometimes he’d stay for dinner. “Other times I’d invite him over to watch TV. “He didn’t have Netflix, so we’d watch the latest shows together. Most read in Fabulous “I got the impression he was lonely as his kids had left home.” When Girling’s dog died, Kirsty asked him to move in to her house and dog sit her own Jack Russell, Layla, while she was away visiting her sister Rachel – and her friend’s behaviour took a strange turn. “Paul was delighted but two days in, my neighbour called me to say that he had friends over at my house,” says Kirsty. “I was furious but when I called to confront him, he denied it.” When Kirsty arrived home her house was as she had left it but she changed the locks just to be sure and ended her friendship with Paul. “I avoided Paul, feeling he’d betrayed my trust,” she explains. A few weeks later, Kirsty went to Norfolk again and this time she took Layla with her. “When we got back my son noticed that the back door was broken,” she says. “The patio doors had been smashed in and there was glass everywhere. “I immediately called the police and when they arrived, they checked the whole house.” A police officer then dropped the bombshell that someone had been living in Kirsty’s loft. “I was terrified as I was told that they’d found boxes of chicken bones, shampoo and body wash up there and there were also water bottles filled with urine,” she says. “I felt sickened. Deep down, I suspected it was Paul. “After the police left, I went into the loft and spotted that two floorboards had been prised up with what looked like a crowbar.” A few weeks later, Kirsty’s worst suspicions were confirmed when police told her they believed Girling had been in her loft. “I froze in horror,” she recalls. “I’d cooked him dinners and he’d spent time with my son. “We’d watched films together and I’d let him look after my dog. “How could he have done this?” Kirsty fled to her sister’s house for a few days but the next day, a neighbour called her to say her house was on fire. “I was so shocked, I could barely speak as she told me that her husband had poured buckets of water through my letter box,” she says. “The fire was out and the emergency services were there. “It seemed like a nightmare.” Driven back home by her brother-in-law, Kirsty found her front door charred from the smoke and her home doused with water. “It was my home but it didn’t feel like it anymore,” she says. “I was just relieved that my son and I hadn’t been there.” Girling, 60, was captured on CCTV and arrested. He went on to plead not guilty to arson with intent to endanger life at Basildon Crown Court in June but was convicted and later jailed for nearly six years. “I’d been his friend, but his actions could have killed me and my boy,” says Kirsty. “My son was so confused as to why Paul would want to hurt us and I didn’t understand either, I thought we’d been friends. “He’d squirted a flammable liquid through my letter box and set it alight. “When the police called to tell me he’d been found guilty, I collapsed in relief.” Kirsty was so traumatised by her ordeal she moved away from the area for a fresh start but the mental scars still remain. “I’ll never be able to be as friendly with a neighbour again,” she says. Comment now