HUNDREDS of brides-to-be may become the unwitting victims of a North-East fraud inquiry, The Northern Echo can reveal.

One of the region's biggest bridal wear companies has been thrown into chaos after its assets were frozen as part of a fraud inquiry.

Now more than 300 brides may find the dresses they ordered for their wedding day are no longer available.

Management of the Manhattan bridal wear chain say they can only sell existing stock.

That means some brides will have to make do with "off-the-peg" dresses that have been used for fitting sessions instead of made-to-measure outfits.

Manhattan's two shops in Eldon Gardens, Newcastle, have closed but a store in Blackwellgate, Darlington, remains open. Twenty-one staff have been laid off, with six remaining.

Proprietor Claire Bartlett, 29, said she was trying to get in touch with about 300 brides to explain the situation.

"We are trying to keep the business open because if we shut the doors nobody gets anything," she said. "I can sell from stock but that's all I can do.

"People who have got dresses on order, obviously all of that's been frozen. I'm trying to negotiate with manufacturers to sell to the brides direct so they will get their dresses."

If negotiations are successful, the majority of brides should be able to get their dresses direct from manufacturers, she said. Those who cannot will be offered alternatives, but not refunds.

Bride-to-be Joanne Stott said it "broke her heart" after being told she would not be wearing her dream dress.

Miss Stott, a care assistant, who is to marry fianc Stuart Hackett, 38, at Hartforth Hall, Gilling West, near Richmond, on December 21, had set her heart on a pink-themed wedding, complete with £470 pastel pink designer gown.

When she called into the shop last week she was told she could not have her frock or her money back.

"I sat there for three-and-a-half hours. It just broke my heart," said the mother-of-three, from Newton Aycliffe. "I was really upset. I thought 'things can't get any worse'.

"Eventually, I left with an ivory dress but I feel it's a poor substitute. My whole wedding is organised round the colour pink - bridesmaids, cake, head-dress, everything.

"I'm a size 18 and the dress I got is a 12. It doesn't look new and you can tell it's been tried on by people in the shop. It's just a nightmare," added Miss Stott, who took a second job to pay for the dress.

Mrs Bartlett said she had tried to get the manufacturers of Miss Stott's dress to sell direct to her but they refused. "We gave her some options of what we could do. We offered to find her another dress. She chose to take a dress."

It is understood that although Manhattan's assets are frozen, the fraud inquiry does not relate directly to the bridal wear company.

Mrs Bartlett said her business was the inquiry's biggest victim. "I am trying to do what I think is the honourable thing in this worst case scenario," she said. "I'm losing my business which I have built up over ten years and I have got no control."