A carer who helped to steal more than £12,000 from a couple with dementia has been ordered to repay just £1.
A court heard Gemma Day and a female colleague regularly withdrew cash in £250 sums over a four-month period from victims Dennis and Ann Baldock.
Mr Baldock was bed-bound at the time, often in and out of hospital, and required intensive assistance with carers visiting his home in pairs three times a day. His wife also had dementia.
The couple knew nothing about the 'unusual and recurring' transactions on their joint bank account until they were spotted by a relative.
Police were alerted and CCTV footage revealed Day, who was employed to assist the Baldocks by private company Welcome Home, taking the money from a cashpoint.
She later pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position but was spared jail on the basis a prison sentence would have a harmful impact on her children.
And when Day returned to Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, on Friday as part of confiscation proceedings, it was ruled she could only afford to repay the nominal £1.
Giving her a week to pay, with a day's imprisonment in default, Judge Robert Lazarus said the now unemployed 30-year-old had no income other than universal credit, no assets, and store card debts totalling approximately £8,000.
"I am entirely satisfied this defendant cannot afford to pay compensation, much as I would like to make an order given the frankly horrific nature of the offence and the breach of trust involved," he told the court.
Judge Lazarus added that ordering her to repay more could also 'create yet further debt and an additional pressure which might result in a return to some sort of inquisitive crime'.
At her sentencing hearing in September last year, the court heard Day, from Sheerness, Kent, received approximately £6,000 of the total £12,170 stolen between January and April 2021.
The single mum-of-four named her colleague involved but at that stage no one else had been charged.
Prosecutor Ali Dewji said the Baldocks were unable to provide victim impact statements to the court due to their worsening health since the offence.
Mr Baldock had moved to a care home and Mrs Baldock's needs were also said to have increased to such an extent that she would report her husband as missing to police.
The court was told Day described the couple as 'welcoming', saying they got on very well and 'had a laugh together'.
She had access to their bank card and PIN as the Baldocks would ask their carers to do shopping for them.
No details were given in court as to how she spent the money.
But despite a judge describing her conduct as 'shameful', Day was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation activity sessions.
