The former owner of a Bradford city centre opticians was locked up overnight while a judge decided whether he should be jailed for a spectacles scam.

Over a period of two-and-a-half years in the mid-1990s, Stephen Penrose, who ran the Crown Optical Centre in Ivegate, submitted false claims to the NHS for glasses he had never supplied to customers, or higher-priced spectacles such as those with tinted lenses.

Penrose, who now lives in Parkgate Row, Copster Green, Blackburn, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to four charges of conspiracy to make false accounts and accepted dishonestly obtaining more than £5,800 from the NHS.

But barrister Derek Duffy, for Penrose, stressed that his offending was not the result of greed or personal enrichment.

He said his client submitted the false claims to keep his business going and offset losses.

Mr Duffy claimed the losses were the result of Penrose supplying certain spectacles to people who could not afford the full price, and the cost of repeatedly replacing glasses for children who had broken them.

He pointed out that one of the staff at the opticians had stated that some children would come in every week asking for replacement glasses - and that couldn't be done under the NHS scheme.

"Penrose would give replacement glasses and then make a false claim to recoup the costs incurred," said Mr Duffy.

"He doesn't dispute what he was doing was wrong. He was off-setting losses being incurred by the practice."

He explained that Penrose had put in £25,000 capital to buy the five-year franchise, but over the years that was being used up and he was only drawing around £16,000 a year. Mr Duffy said the franchise agreement also meant Penrose was unable to buy in cheaper spectacles from other sources.

"The fact is, he couldn't make a profit in this business while he was constrained to purchase only from Crown Optical," he added.

The court heard yesterday that Penrose had arranged to pay back the money to the NHS whether he was sent to prison or not and Mr Duffy urged Judge Peter Benson to consider a non-custodial option in his case.

Whatever the sentence imposed today Penrose will have to face a disciplinary hearing before the General Medical Council and Mr Duffy pointed out he could not be employed without their blessing.

Judge Benson told Penrose they were serious offences and he wanted to think about matters overnight.