Guthrie Castle wedding planner stole Â£130,000 from couples

Craig Williamson vanished to Ibiza, lying to colleagues at plush Guthrie Castle in Angus that he was visiting his father in Glasgow.

In reality he was on the run having splurged the cash on his gambling habit - spending up to £5000 a day.

The castle’s multi-millionaire owner, American businessman Dan Pena, has so far paid over £130,000 from his own pocket to cover refunds and honour bookings that Williamson had swindled the cash from.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard bride Alice Cannon found her wedding - for which she had handed over nearly £19,000 to Williamson - was not on the books with Guthrie Castle staff only a week before her big day.

It went ahead after Mr Pena met the cost from his own pocket.

Megan McNamee found her big day was triple booked for a date in mid-July - forcing her to reschedule for later in the year, again with Mr Pena meeting the cost.

And the mother of a third bride, Kayleigh Ferguson, handed over just short of £19000 to Williamson for a wedding scheduled for June and booked more than 18 months in advance.

But again there was no record with the castle and Williamson vanished with the money. Fortunately her wedding went ahead - again with the castle owner paying for it.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court brides were left “upset and stressed.”

Miss Robertson said: “The accused was hired as a Castle and Estate Manager in November 2014 and was in charge of all events held on the estate.

“In early April 2017 he told colleagues he was going to visit his father in Glasgow who was unwell. Over the next weeks his colleagues did not hear from him and he did not answer repeated phone calls.

“Police were contacted on April 7. Shortly after a director of the company and the wife of the castle owner decided to access his email account remotely. They found emails sent from witness Alice Cannon about her forthcoming wedding due to take place on 14-15 April.

“This alarmed them as they and other members of staff had no knowledge of any such wedding booking which was now just a week away.

“A missing person’s enquiry was launched and it was established he had withdrawn £6000 in cash on April 4 and boarded a Eurostar to Paris that day before travelling to Ibiza on April 25.

“He was spending at least several hundred pounds a week gambling, on some days spending £5000 alone.

“He had been taking bookings for weddings from various brides and grooms to be without informing anyone else at the venue that they had been made or carrying out any preparations for the events.

‘‘He had given the brides and grooms to be his own bank account details and the sums were transferred by them directly into it.

“In total 39 bridal parties had paid a total of around £130,000 to the accused.

“As of now not all of the bridal parties have been identified.

“Mr Pena made the decision not accept any bookings for weddings at the venue after December 2017 and has refunded some customers from his own pocket.

‘‘He has also met the cost of some of the bookings made by the accused to prospective brides and honoured their bookings, allowing the weddings to go ahead notwithstanding that he received no payment for them..

“Mr Pena has been liable for all staff and catering costs of the weddings that he has honoured.

‘‘He told police that he may require to file his company as bankrupt in the future to meet all payments.”

The court heard Williamson handed himself in to police in Dundee on May 8 after news of the fraud broke.

Williamson, 42, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of fraud committed between July 16 2015 and April 2017.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and remanded Williamson in custody meantime.