A THIEVING student nurse who stole bank cards from seriously ill and vulnerable patients at Bradford Royal Infirmary must sell her car to help pay back the £5,176 she made from her wrongdoing.

Ruth Daniel had agreed to raise £2,030 from the sale of the Ford Mondeo, a Proceeds of Crime Application hearing was told at Bradford Crown Court on Monday.

Daniel did not attend but a financial investigator from West Yorkshire Police said she had spoken with her on the phone and she had agreed the figures to settle the matter.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, made a confiscation order in the sum of £2,030. Daniel was given 28 days to hand over the money or face 14 days' imprisonment in default.

In February, Daniel, 28, of Third Street, Low Moor, Bradford, was given a two-year suspended jail sentence for stealing from patients at the hospital.

She used their bank cards and details to buy ‘click and collect’ items from Asda and other items from shops using contactless payments, as well as one Amazon order.

In total, Daniel stole more than £1,100 from three patients and a colleague.

She pleaded guilty to four offences of fraud and two of theft and admitted ten additional offences – seven of fraud and three of theft, totalling £3,970 – taking the total amount stolen to more than £5,000.

Prosecuting, Philip Adams said Daniel “abused her position to steal from and defraud vulnerable patients and staff”.

One of her victims had been rushed into hospital for an emergency operation and was “clearly in a vulnerable condition”.

Emma Downing said in mitigation that Daniel, the mother of two young children, had developed a gambling addiction that was “spiralling out of control”.

Judge David Hatton QC said when sentencing Daniel: “These were despicable offences. Those patients you defrauded were highly vulnerable people, and each offence involved a grotesque breach of trust.”