THE son of a murder victim who plundered thousands of pounds from the bank account of a mentally ill man will have to pay back only a fraction of what he took.

A judge ruled yesterday that Kevin Hogg, 20, no longer had much of the money he stole while acting as an unofficial carer for Kevin Ward, 52.

Hogg, whose mother, Julie, was murdered when he was three, stole £37,618, and tried to take £27,000 during six months.

He was jailed for 21 months in March after he admitted eight counts of theft and obtaining money by deception, but was recently released from prison.

Yesterday, he was back at Teesside Crown Court to face an application by police under the Proceeds of Crime Act to retrieve the money he took.

But Judge Peter Bowers, who told Hogg in March that the reservoir of sympathy people had for him had been exhausted, heard he has only £2,571 in assets.

At his sentencing, the court heard that Hogg took out loans in Mr Ward's name, and had a new bank card and pin number in Mr Ward's name sent to his address.

He posed as Mr Ward to access the cash and, on one occasion, Hogg, of Harland Place, Stockton, even took him to a branch of the Halifax to apply for a £15,000 loan.

The deception only came to light after Mr Ward's daughter became suspicious when her father mentioned he had a new carer. She called social services and was told there was no new carer looking after him.

Instead, it was Hogg, who had deliberately conned his way back into the life of Mr Ward after he cared for him some time earlier while working for Brooklea Services for Mental Health.

When the daughter found her distressed father clutching documents relating to debts accrued in his name, she called police.

Hogg withdrew money to fund a lavish lifestyle, and even after his arrest, he continued his thefts.

When police searched his home, they found "practice signatures" and bank letters.

Hogg's grandmother, Ann Ming, campaigned to have the 800-year-old double jeopardy law overturned so her daughter's killer, Billy Dunlop, could be brought to justice.

Dunlop had been charged with the 1989 murder of the pizza delivery girl, but was acquitted after a trial. Nine years later, he confessed to the crime and was jailed for perjury.

But he was not jailed for her murder because, according to the law of double jeopardy as it stood, Dunlop, who had been in a relationship with Julie, could not be tried twice for the killing.

At Hogg's court case in March, his barrister, Duncan McReddie, said the death and the high-profile campaign of his grandmother had a significant effect on him.

Mr McReddie said the publicity provided him with kudos and friends, but left him needing to live up to an image through excessive spending, and that he squandered more than £80,000 in inheritance money and bank loans.

Judge Bowers told Hogg: "What you did here was deliberate. It was planned and it was motivated by greed."