Victor Bassey changed his plea to guilty

At the 11th hour, Victor Bassey changed his plea to guilty at Teesside Crown Court.

Prosecutors had already opened their case against Bassey when the 49-year-old returned to court after lunch and pleaded guilty to eight of the 11 charges.

Bassey, who was arrested last year after the collapse of his company, Excelsis Aviation, could now face prison after the judge warned him not to have any “false hope”.

The court heard how Bassey set up Excelsis Aviation in June last year. In a lavish launch, he promised to restore the link between Durham Tees Valley Airport and London Heathrow.

Excelsis would offer a “gold standard” service with chauffeur- driven links to and from airports. He recruited a team of airline professionals and forecast a bright future for Excelsis.

But the court heard that Bassey’s boasts were a flight of fancy. Far from being a high-flying businessman, he lived in a terraced house in Middlesbrough. When staff asked about the company’s offices, he told them to work out of a budget hotel.

When The Northern Echo questioned the airline’s finances, Bassey said he was “backed by God”.

The court was told that Bassey used fake documents to suggest he had millions of dollars from US banks.

However, despite repeated promises of payment, workers and suppliers are still owed thousands of pounds.

Opening the case before the guilty pleas, Sarah Mallett, prosecuting, said: “What we say is that this was not a business with any of the necessary essential financial backing in place and this defendant has taken all the steps that he has to cause losses to other people in the region of £125,000.

“He was trading fraudulently because he was misleading those companies that were potential creditors and he went far beyond what ordinary decent people engaged in business would regard as honest.”

Airline recruitment agency Wynnwith Group is owed more than £70,000 for helping Excelsis hire three executives; Andrew Bray, Andreas Blass and Steve Tarbuck.

Redcar website design company E-Strands is owed about £10,000.

The court heard how former regional television reporter Jim Knight, who was hired by Bassey to handle the airline’s media strategy, suffered severe financial hardship after losing £13,000 in wages.

Speaking after yesterday’s hearing, Mr Knight said: “For everybody who came into contact with Victor, it’s been a painful and slightly embarrassing chapter in their lives.

“A lot of people were duped by him – he was a very convincing liar.”

Excelsis was registered at the Morton Palms Business Park, in Darlington. However, when executives joined the company, Bassey told them to set-up offices at the Thistle Hotel, Middlesbrough.

When Mr Bray, who was hired as flight operations director, arrived on August 24, he had to get a room using his own credit card as guarantee.

Mr Blass was hired as chief executive after flying from his home in the Canary Islands.

Bassey told the experienced airline manager he had £10m of his own money and £25m of private equity investors’ money.

When staff later began to question the firm’s funding, Bassey produced a letter from a US bank which appeared to show he had $5m.

He also produced a letter from a private equity company promising $40m. Detectives believe both documents were fake.

Bassey, of Outram Street, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraudulent trading, four charges of obtaining services dishonestly and a single charge of possessing articles for use in fraud.

Ordering a pre-sentence report, Judge George Moorhouse told Bassey: “The fact I am asking for a report should not give you false hope – these are very serious charges.”

The defendant will be sentenced on December 20.

He was released on conditional bail, one condition being that he does not hold or apply for a passport.