Gerald Smith, the property investor and former director of Orb Estates, is facing a jail sentence after entering a last-minute plea of guilty to 11 charges of theft and false accounting at Blackfriars crown court yesterday.

The counts, dating back to events in 2002, to which Mr Smith pleaded guilty included a charge that he stole £8m from Izodia, the failed e-commerce software company previously known as Infobank, which was formerly listed on the Alternative Investment Market.