A BORDERS musician left a trail of disappointed wedding couples in his wake by failing to turn up on their big day with his ceilidh band.

And the 30-year-old accordionist kept their cash.

Gary Forrest pleaded guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court to fraudulently obtaining almost £4,000 by taking bookings he didn’t turn up to.

He admitted seven offences between November, 2014, and the following October, involving sums of between £200 and £830 – totalling £3,710.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said Forrest caused major disappointment: “He would come up with bogus excuses for not turning up saying his parents had died and his child had died. The impact on these people was major.

“They would be sitting at the wedding waiting for the band to turn up and no one would turn up. They had the added expense of trying to sort the problem. It caused a great deal of upset.”

Distraught couples took to the internet last year to warn about Forrest’s scam.

Bride Lucy Blackwell posted: “We booked Gary and his band Reely Rockin’ to play at our wedding.

“He told us they were doing a special offer if you paid upfront. Soon after we had paid, we became suspicious due to lack of contact.

“We contacted Gary and he promised to refund us.

“We were then ignored for weeks before Gary contacted us claiming that his girlfriend had had a baby, and the child had died. This has been proven to be untrue. “Eventually, through the help of another musician who knew Gary, we got our refund but it was a very stressful process.”

This week Selkirk Sheriff Court heard that Forrest had already handed over £2,500 to the police to compensate the people he had stood up.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme said Forrest was taking on more than he could handle and had been drinking to excess.

He explained: “When it came to the day, he could not follow through with his promises he had made and came up with spurious excuses.”

Forrest has the prospect of employment with friend’s recording studio in Aberdeen but his ceilidh band business had been affected by the publicity surrounding his court case.

The court was told that Forrest had given the police £2,580 which was paid back to the customers he had defrauded leaving £650 outstanding.

Forrest pleaded guilty to a further charge of assaulting his former partner at a house in Melrose in October.

Sheriff Peter Paterson imposed a community pay back order involving 200 hours of unpaid work and made a £650 compensation order.