A WOMAN who was involved in a "heartless" fraud which cost a wealthy Craven widow more than £500,000 has been ordered to pay back just under £10,000.

An investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) into the financial affairs of Alice Barker has discovered realisable assets of only £9,850 and on Friday a judge at Bradford Crown Court made a confiscation order in that amount against her.

The 59-year-old, of Raglan Avenue, Keighley, was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence last February for her part in the conspiracy to defraud 92-year-old Parkinson's sufferer Audrey Hammond.

Two other women 44-year-old Amanda Carroll, of Park Avenue, Shipley, and Wendy Bell, 57, of Greenside Lane, Cullingworth, were both jailed for more than three years after they played a leading role in the long-running fraud which resulted in the Cracoe widow being overcharged for her care.

During a period of two years and eight months Mrs Hammond was charged more than £1.1 million, but a jury heard that the "carers" recruited by Bell and Carroll had no qualifications to care for someone with Parkinson's Disease and they were not appropriately registered.

Two more women, Bell's daughter Lisa, 30, also of Greenside Lane, and 60-year-old Lynda Mynott, of Garforth Road, Keighley, were also given suspended jail terms of 15 months and seven months respectively for their roles in the scam.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood told Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC on Friday that an agreement had been reached in relation to the POCA proceedings against Barker.

He said her benefit figure from criminal conduct had been assessed at £62,000, but the realisable amount was £9,850.

It is understood that Barker might have to cash in a pension in order meet the confiscation order which allows her three months to pay the full amount.

If she does not pay back the cash she could face five months in jail.

Mr Wood said the POCA proceedings against Bell, her daughter, Carroll and Mynott would have to go before Judge Colin Burn, who presided over the trial of the defendants.

The court heard that negotiations were on-going between the parties, but if no agreement could be reached a contested hearing could last two or three days.

Mr Wood said the POCA proceedings had to be concluded by January next year and Judge Durham Hall indicated that a hearing should be fixed before Judge Burn by the end of July.