A career criminal who swiped more than £20,000 in a series of ram raids stunned a court when he refused to pay back just £1.
Peter Willmott, 30, was jailed after admitting nine charges of theft and burglaries.
Willmot had carried out a string of cigarette thefts and ram raids across Kent pocketing nearly £20,700 worth of loot.
Police also feared he had stashed away £15,000 worth of stolen cigarettes so launched an investigation into his financial assets.
During a proceeds of crime hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday he was ordered to just pay back just £1 within four days or face another seven days in jail.
But when the judge asked him to pay, he said: “How can I pay it? I can hardly pop down to the local post office and withdraw it can I?”
Willmott, of Ashford, Kent, is yet to pay the money but was given 28 days by the judge to cough up the cash.
The court heard Wilmott stole a prized Ford Escort from a home in Ashford, Kent in January.
A day later it was driven backwards through a country village store’s window, causing £500 damage.
The owner, Rajagopal Sritharan and his family lived above the shop and had to watch helplessly on CCTV as the thieves escaped with £4,500 of cigarettes.
Then in April, Willmott stole a £4,000 Suzuki car from a home in Ashford that was then used in two raids on a jewellery store and a post office.
Willmott then stole another car – using it four days later on a raid at a Spar Store when another £5,500 of cigarettes were taken.
Willmott also attacked the WH Smith store in Tenterden, Kent, in February, taking cigarettes valued at £6,000.