Disgraced former councillor Jeanette Mann has been told to pay back just £290 after being convicted of swindling two pensioners out of more than £26,000.

Mann, the former Conservative councillor who lost her seat in the Disraeli ward on Wycombe District Council at the 2011 elections, was convicted of two counts of dishonestly making a false representation to make gain for herself and one each of theft and possession or control of an article for use in fraud by an Aylesbury Crown Court jury earlier this year and jailed for 15 months.

The court was told she subsequently lost most of the money she had conned out of an 86-year-old woman after herself falling for an online scam. In total she completely drained two bank accounts belonging to the same woman and siphoned off more funds from another 80-year-old woman she had befriended – fraudulently claiming a total of £26,350, the court heard.

Prosecutors sought to recoup some of the cash 67-year-old Mann, of Hughenden Road, High Wycombe, had taken, after making an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Her only available assets were the £290 that was seized by police at the time of her arrest, the court heard yesterday. Judge Kristina Montgomery ruled that that figure is to be forfeited by Mann as a benefit of committing a criminal offence.

The judge told Mann: “It is agreed by you and prosecution under the Proceeds of Crime Act, you benefitted from your activity the figure of £26,350.

“Your available assets are £290, in the custody of the police and seized at the time of your arrest.

“That will become payable within the next seven days. If that does not happen, you will serve a period of imprisonment of up to 14 days.”

Mann was present in court for the short application hearing, speaking only to confirm her name.