A BUSINESSMAN has pleaded guilty to stealing £5.75million from the printing firm where he worked.

David Edgar, 45, admitted 20 charges of theft and asked for a further 278 similar offences to be taken into consideration when he appeared before Bradford Crown Court yesterday .

Edgar also owned Scaitcliffe Hall in Todmorden and the investigation into his activities led to its sudden closure last July when more than 60 couples - including several from East Lancashire - had their wedding receptions cancelled.

Jonathon Gibson, prosecuting, said the thefts related to a period between 1989 and 1998 when Edgar worked at Walsden Printing Company, Todmorden.

The offences involved the cashing of cheques and bankers drafts and sums stolen ranged from £68,700 in November 1989 to £580 in June 1998. Edgar, of Alfonsa Street, Manchester, was arrested at Heathrow Airport last year after he returned from a holiday in Italy. Robert Fortune, defending, asked for sentence in the case to be adjourned for the preparation of reports, including a psychiatric assessment.

He said part of Edgar's offending included speculating on the stock market and in other currencies in an effort to pay back money he had already taken.

Edgar, who is receiving counselling for depression, had also suffered liver damage and had made one "very serious suicide attempt." He was granted bail and will be sentenced next month.

The disappointed wedding couples who had their receptions cancelled included Sarah Goulding and Ashley Elliott, from Weir, Rossendale, who had forked out £1,300.

After the sudden closure of Scaitcliffe, other venues in East Lancashire stepped in to help couples out. Scaitcliffe was sold late last year and is now under new ownership.

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