An internet marketing consultant has admitted swindling customers out of more than £500,000.

Gavin Daglish pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud, false accounting, or money laundering when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court.

The allegations relate to payments he received between December 2012 and August 2017 while running a business in Torquay.

Some of the frauds involve sending invoices which appeared to be from genuine media companies including SearchforLocal and Archant, which runs local papers around Britain, including the Exmouth Journal and Sidmouth Herald.

Daglish, 38, of Brunswick Terrace, Teignmouth, was due to appear for sentence but failed to attend in person and appeared by video link from his home a few days before he was due to stand trial.

Recorder Mr Malcolm Galloway adjourned his sentence until later this month and warned him he would he sentenced in his absence if he fails to turn up again.

William Parkhill, defending, said Daglish knows he is likely to receive an immediate jail sentence and is 'struggling with the reality of the situation'.

Daglish admitted obtaining £528,433.15 from chartered surveyor Robert Gascoigne-Pees between 2012 and 2016 by claiming falsely that he was providing advertising services. He also admitted laundering the proceeds.

He also pleaded guilty to false accounting in 2016 by sending out invoices for £13,724 which appeared to be from Archant but which carried his own bank details and a similar charge relating to SearchforLocal and £970.

He admitted fraudulently obtaining £16,679 between 2016 and 2017 by claiming to work for Infoserve and to obtaining £630 in 2017 by saying he was working for Unicell and could arrange priority listing on the internet.

The police investigated Daglish after complaints from customers who paid him to puff their companies by ensuring they appeared at the top of searches on Google.

They did not get the results they expected and had difficulty contacting Daglish when they tried to get their money back.