Here comes the riot! Furious brides turn on wedding shop boss who went bust and left them dress-less

Your big day is looming and you've got no wedding dress.

Unfortunately, the nightmare has become reality for 170 women. And they are furious about it.

So much so that the bridal shop owner who left them in the lurch has been forced to hire a minder to protect her from the angry mob.  

Robert and Emma Escott: Last-minute replacement dress

Lisa Clarkson: Hired a minder

Lisa Clarkson went into hiding and claims she has received death threats since her boutique in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, went bankrupt with nearly £400,000 of debts.

Earlier this week, Mrs Clarkson, 33, emerged from a hotel she has been staying in for a creditors' meeting she was legally bound to attend.

But she was so scared of facing the brides-to-be that she asked a minder to escort her in.

At the end of the meeting, she was whisked out of a back door and into a waiting BMW to avoid any clashes.

Nick Peat, the official liquidator brought in to probe the financial mess, described the meeting as 'an uproar'.

He said: 'The number of brides that turned up exceeded our expectation. There were 60-plus and many of them doubled up with their fiances or mothers.

'Everyone was screaming and shouting and accusing Mrs Clarkson of fraud. She had to call the police when she shut the shop because of the mob outside so I think getting a bodyguard was possibly the correct decision for her.'

He added: 'Don't mess with brides is all I can say.'

Later, brides-to-be claimed Mrs Clarkson had caused even more outrage by failing to apologise to them.

Angry mob: Many brides haven't received their dresses

Helen Bedford, 22, who lost hundreds of pounds, said: 'It was very frustrating. She did not apologise. She did not seem to feel sorry for us and on one occasion she rolled her eyes. She didn't say very much in the meeting and blamed her problems on everyone else.'

Mr Peat said it would take six months to go through Arvella Bridal's books, and criminal action could be taken if there are any signs of wrongdoing.

Mrs Clarkson opened the shop in 2006. Last month she posted a notice on the door announcing the sudden closure.

The 170 victims, who had spent up to £2,500 on their dresses, made futile demands for refunds.

Hiding: Miss Clarkson's home in Warsash, Hampshire, has all its blinds drawn

Emma Escott, a 28-year-old theatre marketing assistant from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, discovered the shop had closed down just two days before her wedding to Robert, a 43-year-old graphic designer, on June 28.

She had paid £900 for her dress, but was forced to splash out £1,200 on a new one.

'I chose my dress six months before the wedding as I wanted it to be perfect,' she said.

'I fell in love with it and it was sent away to be altered. But three days before the wedding I read on the internet the shop had suddenly closed.

'I was due at the shop the next day for my final fitting but it was closed. I was hysterical and there were lots of tears  -  I had just two days to find a new dress.'

Mrs Clarkson, who lives in a £400,000 home in Warsash, Hampshire, said in a previous interview:

'I'm so sorry the brides have been caught up in this mess. You keep going and trying to make things better and I tried desperately to do that. I did not take any orders from a bride and not order the dress  -  it was not like that at all.'

Mr Peat added: 'Lisa has told me that she was ripped off by suppliers.'