Member of gang that fleeced cash machine users must repay just £1

Adu Bunu, 36, of Wakefield, was part of a gang which took part in a sophisticated card cloning operation with the potential to net more

than 1m of account holders' cash.

Bunu targeted cash machines at supermarkets across the north of England alongside fellow Romanian Florin Pelade, who remains at large.

The fraud succeeded so well that he took several mobile phone pictures of his infant son playing in piles of stolen 20 notes.

He was finally caught in January 2008 and was jailed for five years after being convicted of conspiracy to steal at Hull Crown Court in July 2008.

Bunu is preparing for release in July after serving just two years – and has now been told he will need to repay just 1.

A hearing at York Crown Court heard how Bunu may have hidden assets in Romania – but it was deemed "not realistic" for the authorities to investigate and he will instead be deported to his homeland.

Speaking on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, Paul Reid said that when Bunu was arrested, 3,520 was immediately seized from him and confiscated.

But the total benefit of his fraud was 43,000 – meaning nearly 39,480 stolen cash remains unaccounted for.

He said: "It is not realistic to investigate whether this defendant, whose affairs are in Romania, has any hidden assets.

"The amount that can be realised is a nominal 1 and a confiscation order can be made in that amount."

Sentencing Bunu in July 2008, Judge John Swanson described the crime as "a well-established conspiracy", adding "losses are ultimately not borne by the banks but by the people who have to use them. It is the

public who will have to pay in the end".

During his trial, the jury had been shown how the group would steal the plastic front of a cash machine and use it as a guide to build others.

They installed a tiny pinhole camera in the fake cover and place a skimming machine in the card slot before placing it over the top of an existing machine.

The camera would then film users inputting their PIN numbers. The gang transferred the details on to blank cards before travelling to cash machines at supermarkets which were not covered by CCTV in Beverley, Warrington, Lichfield and Hereford.

When officers searched Bunu's home they found a laptop containing the details of 65 cloned cards and three mobile phone top-up cards.

Officers also found a key to Pelade's flat, also in Wakefield, and recovered eight false ATM fronts and nearly 2,000 account numbers and PIN codes which had the potential to steal more than 1m.