Woman told to repay £5 of fraud

Hayley Price spent the stolen £41,000 on herself, her son and her dog

A woman who stole £41,000 from her 95-year-old war hero great-uncle has been ordered to pay back just £5.

Hayley Price, 42, of Blaenavon, Torfaen, cooked and cleaned for D-Day veteran Arthur Edwards, while writing herself 154 fraudulent cheques.

She was given a year's jail, suspended for two years, at an earlier hearing at Cardiff Crown Court.

A proceeds of crime hearing was subsequently told all the money has been spent and Price had no assets.

Judge David Wynn Morgan ruled that Price must repay £5 to Mr Edwards by next week.

He had previously told her: "You did a wicked, wicked thing."

Price's trial heard she went shopping for her frail uncle and visited him every day for 11 years.

He will never see his money again and the fact that a member of his own family stole from him is very sad. Niece Jayne Edwards

The court was told that during a police interview, she said: "I was greedy and had Christmas coming. I hold my hands up to it. I thought I could get away with it."

The jury heard that all the money was spent on herself, her son and her dog.

She admitted 12 counts of forgery.

Mr Edwards, a corporal in the South Wales Borderers, won the Kings Medal for Gallantry for saving the life of a doctor during the D-Day landings in World War II.

After the proceeds of crime hearing on Wednesday, Mr Edwards' family said it had been a "very difficult time" for the veteran soldier who now lives in a care home.

His niece Jayne Edwards said: "He will never see his money again and the fact that a member of his own family stole from him is very sad.

"I'm disappointed for my uncle that the system doesn't allow for him to get the money back."