A FORMER Blackburn businessman - who was in charge of a property empire which collapsed owing £54m - has been made bankrupt.

Ex-Bury FC chairman Stewart Day, who had offices in Lions Drive, Shadsworth, was behind the Mederco group of companies.

His property empire, mainly relating to student accommodation in large towns and cities including Cardiff, Bradford, Huddersfield and Bolton, initially collapsed in April 2019.

Initially it was thought the Mederco outfits owed investors £27m - but when other related companies went under that total mushroomed to £54m.

Mederco’s demise was triggered after Day’s finance company, the peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy pulled the plug on support amid its own spiralling problems.

While a number of his Day’s companies have been dissolved, since then, some are still in administration, as insolvency experts attempt to recoup losses for investors.

Administrators of Mederco Block A, centring on the student development Cormorant House in Huddersfield, for instance, completed a £4.5m deal with a third party for the property, which will part-pay off some creditors.

The bankruptcy order for Day, now 41 and giving an address in Formby, was first lodged with the Liverpool County Court by a creditor in March.

Under a petition lodged by London-based Farahnaz Cook, a bankruptcy order was made concerning Day on October 18.

Day also held long leases over car parking spaces at Bury FC’s Gigg Lane ground under another Mederco group company.

He stepped down as Bury chairman after six years in 2018, a period which saw a number of financial problems for The Shakers.

This week it emerged that Steven Dale, who Day sold the club to before it went into administration itself in late 2020, had also been made bankrupt.

Earlier this year nearly 200 small investors, owed anything from a few hundred pounds to £25,000, were told that they stood little chance on a return on their money as part of the administration process for one of the larger Day companies, Mederco Ltd.