A LANDLORD is fighting the threat of bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay compensation to the girlfriend of a former manager who stole £22,000 from his pub.

Brendan Doyle and Nina Wright were pub managers at the Hole in the Wall, in Balkerne Hill, Colchester, when they were sacked after the safe there was found empty.

Doyle, 34, was jailed for 21 months in August, after admitting repeatedly using the takings to place bets instead of banking it.

James Prile, director of the James Pub Company, which owns the Hole in the Wall, has been ordered to pay Miss Wright compensation after failing to answer a claim for unfair dismissal. Mr Prile said he would ensure the historic pub, built on part of the Roman wall surrounding the town, was not made bankrupt.

He has been given until 2010 to contest the compensation claim.

An employment tribunal yesterday heard Miss Wright had been sacked on the spot and given no chance to appeal.

She is now eligible for up to £12,500 in compensation, wages, holiday and notice pay, and a lack of earnings until she was able to find work at TK Maxx in July. Mr Prile told the hearing Miss Wright, as joint manager, was responsible for accounting for the finances of the pub, even if she did not know what her boyfriend was doing.

He said: “It was a lot of money that went missing. It has made us almost bankrupt. The company is at the point of financial ruin to the point where we have got valuers coming on Friday.”

Employment judge Brian Mitchell adjourned the hearing until January 2010, but ordered Mr Prile to pay £100 to cover the costs of Miss Wright collating her claim.

After the hearing, Miss Wright said the first she had heard about Doyle’s stealing was when he was found out in January this year.

She said: “We’re still together, but I had nothing to do with what went on. It was a gambling problem he had.”

Mr Prile, speaking after the hearing, said he would ensure the firm was not made bankrupt. He said: “It has made what is a tough trade anyway even tougher in the recession.”