A wedding planner scammed £130,000 from dozens of couples, leaving some double-booked and others in limbo weeks before their big day.

Gambling addict Craig Williamson, 42, went on the run to Ibiza after spending up to £5000 a day on his habit with cash taken from couples due to wed at Guthrie Castle.

The multi-millionaire owner of the Angus venue, Dan Pena, has spent tens of thousands of pounds covering refunds and bookings.

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

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

Another's wedding 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.

A third bride handed over just short of £19,000 to Williamson for a wedding scheduled for June and booked more than 18 months in advance.

There was no record of it, however, and Mr Pena paid for the ceremony.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court brides were left "upset and stressed", with one saying the situation had put a strain on her relationship.

Ms 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."

Mr Pena found emails from a bride about a wedding castle staff were not aware of.

"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," Ms Robertson said.

"A missing person's inquiry was launched and it was established he had withdrawn £6000 in cash on April 4 and boarded a Eurostar to Paris that day before travelling to Ibiza on April 25.

"It was also established he was spending at least several hundred pounds a week gambling, on some days spending £5000 on gambling alone."

She added: "It was established the accused had been taking bookings for weddings from various brides and grooms to be without informing anyone else at the venue that the bookings had been made or carrying out any preparations for the events, such as arranging staff, catering, etc.

"The accused had given the brides and grooms to be his own bank account details and the sums were transferred by them directly into his account as opposed to the castle's business account.

"The accused had taken bookings and payments for some weddings that had gone ahead, with payments being made directly into his personal bank account or by cheque payable to him.

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

Some weddings went ahead as planned but Williamson kept the funds for himself.

Prosecutors have been unable to identify every affected bride because of missing paperwork and Mr Pena decided not to book any weddings at the venue from December.

"Mr Pena has been liable for all staff and catering costs of the weddings that he has honoured," Ms Robertson added.

"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 but refused to answer questions during an interview.

Williamson pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of fraud.

Defence solicitor Billy Rennie said: "He has made efforts to resolve this case from a very early stage.

"He has made no motion for bail at any stage and does not do so today."

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