150-year-old lost wedding dress returned to family By Angie Brown

BBC Scotland, Edinburgh and East reporter Published duration 13 February 2017

image copyright Patrick Gammell image caption The dress pictured safely back at the family home in East Lothian

A 150-year-old antique wedding dress that was lost after a dry cleaners went bust has been given back to its family.

Tess Newall, 29, of Morham, East Lothian, had worn the dress - belonging to her great-great grandmother - when she got married in June last year.

However, after it was booked in to be cleaned by Kleen Cleaners in St Mary Street, Edinburgh, it went missing.

Mrs Newall's father, Patrick Gammell, confirmed to the BBC that the dress had now been returned.

It was handed back to the family on Monday by two officials from the sequestrators dealing with Kleen Cleaners financial affairs.

Mr Gammell said he and his wife were "petrified" to let it out of their sight again.

The 61-year-old, who is the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of East Lothian, told BBC Scotland's news website: "We are thrilled finally to have my wife's family's wedding dress back safely in our hands.

"This has been in no small part due to the media interest in which the BBC helped considerably, for which we are very grateful."

He added: "We are petrified to let it out of our sight now and I think my wife, Sally, is going to try to clean it herself instead of sending it somewhere again."

After the BBC highlighted the dress's disappearance , it was found "in a crumpled heap" at the closed shop.

media caption Heirloom dress found after bride's plea

Mrs Newall, who married Alfred Newall, 30, in East Lothian, said she was "absolutely over the moon" at the discovery.

The dress was sent to be dry cleaned in September and the shop shut in October.

The business is now being dealt with under Scottish bankruptcy law in a process known as sequestration.

An AiB spokeswoman said: "Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) was appointed as trustee in this case.

"Wylie & Bisset were allocated the case in October 2016 to administer on AiB's behalf and handled the closure of the Kleen Cleaners dry cleaning business in Edinburgh.

"In a bankruptcy, the whole estate of the debtor vests with the trustee, with specific exceptions laid down in law.

"When business is involved in a bankruptcy, it is normal practice to immediately close down the trading premises and investigate and identify assets of the bankruptcy."

She said in these circumstances attempts are made to notify customers of the bankruptcy and return any items that belong to them.

She added: "At the commencement of a bankruptcy, a bankrupt individual will complete a questionnaire to disclose assets, income, creditors and other information.

"This will be used as a starting point for the trustee to establish the value of the estate and the extent of liabilities. The trustee will not seek to realise assets unless satisfied he is entitled to do so.

"AiB has been advised of the issues surrounding this particular case and while it is our policy not to comment on individual cases, we can confirm this issue has now been concluded satisfactorily."

image copyright Seth Baines

image copyright Seth Baines image caption Tess Newall on her wedding day in her great-great grandmother's dress

image copyright Seth Baines

image copyright Seth Baines image caption Tess and Alfred Newall on their wedding day