THREE carers who defrauded a bedridden widow they worked for out of more than £700,000 must sell their luxury handbags and watches to pay back their ill-gotten gains, a court heard.

Amanda Carroll and mother and daughter, Wendy and Lisa Bell, had expensive designer goods seized by the police when they were arrested for ripping off 92-year-old Audrey Hammond.

Carroll, 45, of Park Avenue, Shipley, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison in February 2015, and Wendy Bell, 59, of Greenside Lane, Cullingworth, was jailed for three years and six months for fleecing Mrs Hammond, of Cracoe, near Skipton.

Lisa Bell, 31, also of Greenside Lane, Cullingworth and Linda Mynott, 62, of Garforth Road, Keighley, received suspended prison sentences.

All four women are the subject of confiscation proceedings to claw back some of Mrs Hammond's lost money.

Today, Judge Colin Burn, the trial judge, ruled that Carroll benefited to the tune of £706,925 from her criminality.

He made a confiscation order in the sum of £2,917 against her.

Stephen Wood, barrister for the Crown, said that amount was made up of £215 cash seized from her when she was arrested, and the projected profit from the sale of two gold rings, a Rotary watch and a Dolce and Gabbana watch, also in the hands of North Yorkshire Police.

A hearing to recoup assets from the Bells and Linda Mynott was adjourned until December 15.

Mr Wood said Mynott's assets totalled part ownership of a caravan.

Wendy and Lisa Bell had lived together and the financial investigator was trying to determine who owned what.

"A whole host of assets were recovered on their arrest, and trying to say which Louis Vuitton handbag belonged to who is proving problematic," Mr Wood said.

But he told the court that neither woman was going to dispute that the items were part of their available assets.

Judge Burn said the outstanding confiscation cases would be settled at the next hearing.

When he sentenced the women for their roles in the two and a half year fraud, he told Carroll and Wendy Bell: "You must take the central responsibility for a scheme which exposed Mrs Hammond, wealthy though she was, to massive financial loss resulting from blatant dishonesty."

The pair recruited friends and family to become carers for Mrs Hammond, although they had not undergone checks with the Criminal Records Bureau.

When the police became involved, in September 2012, Mrs Hammond was paying £35,000 every four weeks for her care.

Carroll was overpaid by about £220,000, Wendy Bell by about £139,000, Lisa Bell by about £50,000 and Mynott by about £39,000.

After the case Detective Constable Shane Martin, of Skipton CID, said: "These so-called carers abused their position of trust and responsibility, provided a poor standard of care and plundered the unsuspecting victim's bank account, believing they would never be found out."