Dundee businessman bankrupt after running up over £300,000 in debt

Dundee property developer Mark Harris was made bankrupt after running up a debt of more than £300,000 with the Allied Irish Bank.

Sequestration against the 43-year-old was granted by Sheriff Tom Hughes at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Lawyer David Wilson, acting on behalf of AIB, said it was too late for Harris to challenge the order, adding: “My motion is to grant sequestration.”

Lawyer Ross Taylor, for Harris, said there was not enough evidence to suggest that court officers had tried to contact his client.

“There is nothing that I can see to vouch for the fact that inquiries were made as to where he was,” he added.

The action was taken against Harris through his position as director of West Court Developments, formerly known as Top Rowan Developments (Dundee) Limited.

That firm had outstanding mortgages with AIB on a flat on Blackness Road and two plots of land on Milton Road in Dundee and The Isles in Inverkeilor. Harris, who was not in court, later said he would challenge the ruling.

“We are going to appeal it and go for an interim interdict against the order in the court of session,” he said.