Brit victim of Sri Lankan bigamist who fleeced her for £100k demands family pays her back

A British woman left with "nothing" after allegedly being conned out of £100,000 by a Sri Lankan bigamist before he was shot dead, is calling on his family to pay her back.

Diane Peebles, 65, spent £60,000 to build a house for her to share with her husband, Priyanjana De Zoysa, as well as buying him a new car to use as a taxi in his home country and she funded his wider family’s living expenses.

She met Priyanjana, 33 years her junior, on holiday in Sri Lanka and gave up her home and career as a council worker to create a new life abroad. But she was unaware that Priyanjana was already married and was forced to flee with nothing back to after he was shot dead by gangsters.

She is angry that two of his brothers and their wives and children live rent-free in the Sri Lankan home which Diane’s savings paid to build. “I’ve struggled with what happened to me, but now it’s time to fight back," she said.

“I’m not the first woman to fall into this kind of trap and I won’t be the last but I hope that sharing my story with the Record and might make people who find themselves in my position stop and think.”

Diane, who features on Netflix series Love Rats, is looking to retrieve the money she spent and is bitter about the deception. “His family don’t appreciate what I did for them. My brothers-in-law and their wives and children are living in my home now rent-free. They don’t deserve to live there," she said.

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“That house was built on the work I put into my career over many years, and I have nothing to show for it. That can’t be right. I know it’s complicated but bank records will show my money paid for the house, and many other things. I went from being comfortable to having nothing, so even if I could claim back half of what I spent on his family, it would make a massive difference to my retirement.”

Already wed to Priyanjana after a holiday romance and returning at intervals to be with him, Diane decided in 2015 to move to Sri Lanka. She sold her flat in East Lothian for £105,000 and took early retirement from her job as a customer service assistant with Edinburgh City Council.

She had met Priyanjana when she was 53 and he was 20, and never having been married before she decided to grab her chance of happiness. She said: “I was no Shirley Valentine, unhappy and looking for love. I had a home, a good job, family and friends, but I didn’t have a great social life, was used to travelling alone, so I wanted a bit more out of life and was easily swept off my feet.

“I couldn’t believe at first that he was interested in me but he was very convincing. He was kind, gentle, affectionate and I really thought I had a chance of love and companionship, so agreed to make the move.” But she soon found herself being asked to fund all the family’s expenses. She said: “I tried to explain I was not wealthy but they seemed to think I had a bottomless pit of money.

“There were gifts for his mother, father and three younger brothers. I bought them a fridge-freezer, a fan and a water purifier, and it soon became the norm for me to pay for everything – food, fuel, whatever was needed. Before long, I was struggling and there was nothing left but my £363-a-month pension. But my husband kept asking for more. I thought he loved me but he loved my money more. The idyllic life I’d dreamt of wasn’t the life I was living.”

Diane realised Priyanjana had lost interest in her. He excused his absences, which lasted for days, by saying he was busy working, but in 2016 she found a Valentine’s card to him marked “to my husband”. He claimed a friend had played a trick on him but in December of that year she discovered he had wed a local woman of 18 while still married to her.

In May 2017, Priyanjana was shot dead, three weeks after his other wife’s brother had also been gunned down. Diane said: “It was a terrible shock. His family took me to the hospital to see him. His other wife was there too. She was distraught. I was sorry for him but he’d treated me so badly that I felt numb more than grief. After two days, they brought his body back to his parents’ house and he lay in an open casket for two more days.

“I sat at times on one side of the casket and his second wife sat on the other, fanning the flies off his body. We looked at one another but didn’t speak.” Even after his death, Diane was still expected to fund the family’s lifestyle. She only escaped the following year with the help of two Sri Lankans she met online, one a police officer.

Diane has now been in touch with Priyanjana’s family through an intermediary to demand they repay her. She has the support of her bank in trying to trace the now disused account she used to send her late husband money, reported the Daily Record. She had been told previously that she needed the account number but had left her paperwork in Ahungalla, Sri Lanka, and was scared to return.

Early on in their relationship, Diane sent hotel worker Priyanjana a few thousand pounds for a Tuk Tuk taxi. Once married, she spent another £31,000 on a Toyota Hiace people-carrier for him to use as an upmarket taxi to do lucrative airport transfers. Diane only had a small mortgage on her home in Musselburgh and was close to the end of her career. But she took out a loan, and later sold it to fund her new life in Sri Lanka and meet her young husband’s demands.

Her finances were completely drained by her husband and his family. Previous efforts to get her money back failed because she was unable to prove she had sent money to him. All her paperwork was left behind when she finally fled Sri Lanka, with the help of the two locals. One even took her into his home for a few nights after a man with a gun went looking for her at the hotel where she was staying before flying home.

The gun was picked up by CCTV footage in the back of the man’s waistband and Diane was warned by the hotel manager. She feared that she was going to be killed to prevent her returning home and pursuing her lost money. Diane’s bank has confirmed that with the details she has now provided they should be able to trace her old number and produce statements. This would prove she sent thousands of pounds to Priyanjana’s account at the Bank of Ceylon, and give her solid legal grounds to demand the family pays her back.