AN INFORMANT who helped arrange two major robberies that saw £75,000 stolen has been ordered to pay back just £1.30.

The confiscation order against 'inside agent' Simon Ginn, of Accrington, has been branded a 'joke'.

And the gang of four who carried out the robberies, including one in which a security guard was shot in Blackburn, were also told to pay back a 'pittance'.

Just £5,500 has been recouped from all five, despite the raids netting £75,000.

Peter Britcliffe, leader of Hyndburn Council, said the court hearing would have cost more than has been recouped from the gang.

He said: "The verdict is a joke and most people will see this and rightly think it is a nonsense.

"This helps no-one: not the victims or the taxpayer."

Ginn, 29, of Water Street, who was employed by cash-in-transit firm Loomis and helped co-ordinate the two robberies.

He and his associates were jailed for a total of at last 50 years in April.

They are Colin McCash, 31, of Spencer Street, Accrington, Jimmy Mulholland, 37, of Windermere Avenue, Accrington, David Evans, 20, of Bonsall Street, Blackburn, and Dean Farrell, 23, of Billinge Avenue, Blackburn.

The East Lancashire-based organised crime group was responsible for the robbery of a cash delivery to Morrisons in Thornton Cleveleys in August 2008 and then an armed robbery at a cashpoint in Cherry Tree, Blackburn, in December 2008.

Security guard Imran Aslam was shot in the leg by Farrell in that incident.

Yesterday they appeared at Preston Crown Court for a confiscation hearing, but it emerged investigators have been unable to trace almost all of the dirty money.

Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Paul Broxson said he believed the stolen notes were spent very quickly in nightclubs, pubs and on taxis.

He said: “My initial reaction is that the figures are really disappointing.

“But when you think about the people involved, their lifestyles and their need to commit these offences, they don't have personal possessions or assets.

“We will be keeping an eye on their assets as it means if they ever were to get a windfall, we could go back to court to seize that.

“We must not lose sight that these people are facing very long jail terms.”

Farrell must pay back £1.80 in the next 28 days or have an extra one day added to his indefinite sentence set with a minimum of 11 years.

His accomplice on the Blackburn job, Evans, was told to handover £1,044.20 or face 10 days extra on his 10-year sentence.

Ginn was ordered to pay back £1.30 in a month’s time or face an extra day on his 12-year sentence.

Organiser McCash, who was captured on CCTV spending the stolen notes on petrol for his Subaru Impreza, must pay back £315.20 in 28 days or get an extra week on his 10-year sentence.

Mulholland, was the driver of the getaway vehicle in the first robbery, was told to handover the most - £4,279.49 over the next six months or have an extra 45 days added to his seven-and-a-half year sentence.

John Dilworth from the Lancashire Crown Prosecution Service said the judge could not make a confiscation order for more than the defendant’s available assets.

But Nigel Evans MP said he was 'surprised shocked and disappointed' by the ruling.

He said: "It makes a mockery of the system which is supposed to make sure that no-one convicted can profit from their crime."