POLICE finance experts have been unable to locate virtually any of the £25,600 crooked secretary Louise Winskill filched from York Science Park.

All she will have to hand over to the authorities is £700, York Crown Court heard.

The serial conwoman used her position as PA to its managing director to siphon off its money for her own purposes. It was the fourth time she had conned her way into a position of trust in a company around the country.

The 35-year-old mother-of-two is currently serving three years and three months for 32 deceptions in York and one of concealing her previous convictions for deception to get a job at York Science Park.

She used to live in Heslington and Thief Lane, but moved to a secret address in Northamptonshire during the court case.

She was brought to court from jail to learn how much her crimes will cost her in cash.

But when police finance experts tried to find the money she had taken, they got nowhere.

Her barrister, Simon Reevell, told York Crown Court that the only assets they could find were a television worth £300 and a car worth £400. He accepted that the court could confiscate them under laws aimed at stopping criminals benefiting from their crimes.

But he begged for time to pay because Winskill was in prison and the documents relating to the television and car were in her parents' garage.

Her parents are in the Far East until the middle of July, said Mr Reevell.

Recorder Paul Miller made an order that Winskill pay £700 by the end of August.

He also declared that she had made £25,618.18 from crime, a declaration that means that if police later track down other assets, they could make her hand them over. Police enquiries will continue.

Last November, York Crown Court heard how for two years' running, Winskill cheated York Science Park out of money equivalent to ten per cent of its annual profits.

She wrote cheques to fake companies, gave a receptionist an unofficial £1-an-hour pay rise and another staff member an unauthorised company car. She also used her innocent boyfriend, Carl Moss, in £11,000 of her deceptions. Some of the money went on credit card, child care and other debts.

Updated: 08:58 Tuesday, May 09, 2006