Miriam Siegman is now reduced to scavenging for food in skips.

The retired New York consultant told the court that, after losing her life savings, she now survives on welfare payments.

“He discarded me like roadkill. I manage on food stamps. At the end of the month, I sometimes scavenge in dumpsters,” she said. “I cannot afford new eyeglasses. I long to go to a concert but I cannot afford it.”

People ask me, ‘How are you?’ I answer, ‘I’m fine’. But it’s not always true,” she said. “It’s only a matter of time. I will be unable to meet my basic needs: food, healthcare and shelter. The man sitting in this courtroom robbed me . . . . . . Forgiveness for now will have to come from someone other than me.”

Tom FitzMaurice, 63, is doing three jobs to make ends meet after being swindled by Madoff. He said: "He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in-between. He had no values.

"There will be no retirement, no trips to California to visit our 1-year-old grandson."

He read from a statement by his wife, Marcia, who stood by his side. "I cry every day when I see the pain in my husband's eyes," he said, tears welling up. "I cry for the life we had."

He urged the judge "not to confuse Madoff's prepared statements with remorse."

Florence Roth, 62, of Jupiter, Florida, said: "I'm glad he was sentenced to the fullest because what he did to our lives is despicable."

She and her husband can no longer afford to pay for her mother-in-law's assisted-living placement. "It still doesn't make my life any better right now."

Another victim, Carla Hirshhorn, said: "Life has been a living hell. It feels like the nightmare we can't wake from."

Michael Schwartz, a 33-year-old whose family had invested with Madoff to help pay for his mentally disabled brother, broke down as he spoke to the court. "Every time he wrote a cheque to pay for his decadent lifestyle he killed dreams. I hope he is imprisoned long enough that his jail cell becomes his coffin."

Dominic Ambrosino said Madoff's crime was "indescribably heinous." He urged the judge to deliver a long sentence so he "will know he is imprisoned in much the same way he imprisoned us and others."

He added: "In a sense, I would like somebody in the court today to tell me, how long is my sentence?"

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