AN accountant accused of defrauding his millionaire friends out of £186,000 to pay his own bills said: “My God, what have I done?’ when he was confronted by them, a court has heard.

Adrian Lummis was in charge of the business and personal accounts of brothers Douglas and James Edwards, having worked alongside them since 2007.

But when the brothers - who run scrap dealer Nationwide Metal Recycling Ltd, in Ardleigh - were alerted to the money going missing from their joint business account, Ipswich Crown Court heard they confronted Lummis.

Judge Ian Evans also heard how Lummis had begun to use the company “as a bank which held his money”.

The accountant, who first trained in 1979, is accused of acting against the interests of the company by taking £20,000 to pay for his own solicitor’s conveyancing bill in December 2011.

The 53-year-old, of The Street, Diss, is also accused of the same crime in March 2012, by taking £41,697.30 to pay his own taxes to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

He also faces a third fraud totalling £125,000 in July, 2012. That money was allegedly also used to pay off his taxes.

Lummis claims the brothers agreed to him having the money as interest free loans.

He also told the court he has repaid all of the cash after he inherited a substantial amount of money when his estranged wife died.

However the pair deny any such deal was made and told the court if Lummis had asked to borrow money, they would have lent it to him as they had been friends for 30 years.

Adrian Lummis is accused of three counts of fraud by abuse of position, which he denies.

Jury members were last night sent out to consider their verdict.