Senator Walton Brown admitted yesterday that he stopped paying a former employee thousands of dollars she was owed because she threatened to take him to court.

The PLP politician told The Royal Gazette he was happy to pay Christen Pears, former managing editor of Bermuda Network News, the cash on a monthly basis but stopped altogether when she requested more frequent installments.

Sen. Brown said: "She decided she wanted a more frequent payment. It was on the basis of that threat that I stopped making payments. This is why we are here today."

He admitted during a court hearing yesterday morning that Ms Pears, 32, was owed more than $10,000 from his MediaCom company, which he has now closed down. She is seeking the money for unpaid wages, health bills and other expenses.

A judgement against Sen. Brown was made at an earlier hearing but Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that it should have been made against MediaCom and would have to be altered.

Sen. Brown told Magistrate Juan Wolffe the company had been struck off. "The company was closed down," he said. "There was a payment plan in place for Ms Pears. During the payment plan she decided to take court action. The company no longer exists. It was being paid out."

Asked by Mr. Wolffe how much Ms Pears, a Brit who now lives in Australia, was owed, Sen. Brown replied: "About $10,000." Mr. Wolffe said the exact amount was $10,553.

Elizabeth Chang, a friend appearing on behalf of Ms Pears in court, said: "My understanding is that Mr. Brown owns MediaCom, that MediaCom is now bankrupt. Ms Pears is trying to receive the money owed to her. There were ongoing attempts to collect prior to the bankruptcy after she was made redundant."

She asked what struck off meant but Mr. Wolffe told her: "I'm not here to offer advice."

The magistrate said he hoped Ms Pears would get her money and set the matter for mention on March 11, when it would be established whether a court-ordered payment plan was needed.

"We will mention this here in a month's time and find out exactly where everybody stands," said Mr. Wolffe. "If his company is struck off then there might be some other issues relating to further action."

Sen. Brown told this newspaper outside court: "Ms Pears was being paid all of her arrears on a monthly basis. Christen made a decision that she should be paid twice a month.

"I told her I will continue to pay once a month to pay the arrears and the amount varied. It was a minimum of $2,000 I would pay.

"She started to say if I didn't pay more she'd take me to court and I don't succumb to threats. It was simply because of that threat that I said: 'If you decide to take me to court then we will allow the legal process to allow you to be paid'."

He added that MediaCom was not declared bankrupt. "I closed the business down. I was funding the company out of my pocket and Christen knew that."

Ms Pears' civil claim, filed last summer, said the Junior Minister regularly failed to pay her on time after she took up the post in September 2006 and did not register her with the Department of Social Insurance or arrange health cover.

She claimed she was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, as well as relocation expenses of $2,500, a $125 immigration fine incurred because Sen. Brown failed to arrange a landing permit for her, medical expenses of almost $600 and erroneous social insurance deductions of more than $300.