THE general manager of a tipi hire company has appeared in court after pleading guilty to committing fraud and sex offences .

Gareth Edwards, of Willand Close, Bolton, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on June 29.

He later pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court to one count of recording a person doing a private act and one count of making an indecent picture of a child.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempts to possess indecent pictures of a child, another count of recording a person doing a private act and another count of making an indecent picture of a child.

Edwards was the general manager of Bolton-based Big Chief Tipis, where he falsified freelancers’ invoices before paying the fees to himself, heard the court.

The company hire out tipis for weddings, parties and corporate events and count Glastonbury Festival, celebrity chef James Martin and motorcycle champion Carl Fogarty as previous customers.

Returning to Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court for sentencing, Edwards, 40, indicated that his basis of plea with regards to the fraud charge differed from the prosecution version of events, chiefly in terms of the amount of fees he paid himself.

Judge Maurice Greene has subsequently called for a Newton hearing to take place on September 1 this year.

The Crown say the amount was £18,000, with Edwards saying the amount was £11,000.

A Newton hearing is a trial of issues in a case. As with an ordinary trial evidence is called with the magistrates or a judge sitting alone being asked to make a decision as to what actually happened.

Edwards will go on trial for the offences he denies with the trial scheduled to begin on June 6, 2022. He was released on unconditional bail ahead of the September hearing.