By SIMON DEAN
ANIMAL lover Darren Purviss is close to going NUTS after a gambling mad MONKEY blew all his BRASS…playing internet ROULETTE!
Former local authority systems analyst Darren, 42, bought spider monkey Leroy as a baby two years ago from a bloke in a pub. But rather than being a bezzy mate, the betting bonkers ape grew up to become his financial nemesis — forcing him into BANKRUPTCY!
Drinking deeply from Tesco Value lager — the only booze he can afford — brassic Darren told Sunday Sport: “He must have watched me playing internet roulette — I spend a lot of time on the net gambling and looking at ladies.
“He was taking it all in and while I was at work he was playing too. “Before I knew it, he’d maxed all my cards and somehow managed to get me in hock to some men in China to the tune of £20k.
“You don’t f*** with the Triads — so I took out a loan from one of those firms you see on the telly to pay them. “Soon, I was missing payments on the loan. I began drinking to dull the pain and lost my job.”
Darren, of Keele, Staffs, was forced to go bankrupt — which meant he lost his house and his posh Peugeot 405 motor car.
Now he’s trying to rebuild his life from a tiny bedsit he shares with Leroy — and NO computer.
He said: “Even though Leroy’s cost me everything I still love him.”