A former Coca-Cola manager who took more than £1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping favoured companies win lucrative contracts feels “desperately guilty”, a court has heard.

Noel Corry paid about £1.7 million to the soft drinks giant after it uncovered a nine-year scheme in which he leaked confidential information in exchange for large sums of money, to give some companies an advantage when bidding for contracts, Southwark Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

A judge was told how Corry, 56, who was a senior engineering manager responsible for identifying electrical services contractors for bottling plants in the UK, was forced to sell his family home and hand over his pension savings to repay Coca-Cola, when he was discovered in 2013.

He had to give Coca-Cola £1.7 million and could now face years in prison for his part in the scheme, the court heard.

Christopher Harding, representing Corry, told the court that his “fall from grace” had a “profound” effect on his family and that Corry’s son now suffered from “quite serious mental health problems”.

Corry’s wife, from whom he separated in 2016, knew nothing about the bribes and was “very adversely affected” by the fallout, the barrister told the court.

Mr Harding said: “He feels desperately guilty about the extent to which his selfish and dishonest offending has affected them.”

“Mr Corry is truly remorseful for his involvement in these offences and that’s demonstrated not only by restoring what he could to Coca-Cola in 2013 but by attempts to assist in the investigation,” he added.

The court previously heard how Corry was given bribes through payments for “bogus” contracts for Coca-Cola, in which work was never carried out, or had Coca-Cola pay more than the actual amount charged for real work and was sent the difference, prosecutors said.

Between 2004 and 2013 he was said to have provided Boulting Group – now named WABGS Ltd – Tritec Systems and Electron Systems with insider information which helped them win contracts.

By the time he was discovered and dismissed, Corry had received at least £950,000 from Boulting, while Tritec Systems and Electron Systems had paid more than £600,000 in bribes, the court heard.

He feels desperately guilty about the extent to which his selfish and dishonest offending has affected them

Boulting was said to have benefited by £13 million.

He kept track of his ill-gotten gains in a spreadsheet titled “slush” which investigators later found on his work laptop, the court heard.

Prosecutors said bribes would be made to him in the form of sham payments to a shell company he controlled through family members, Trojan Ltd, Alpha Windows – owned by his brother-in-law – or Axial Partnership Ltd, a company in which he was a partner.

He also received hundreds of thousands of pounds as sponsorship or through other payments to Droylsden FC, a football club also run by his brother-in-law and of which he was president, the court heard.

Corry would also arrange expensive entertainment events through corporate events company Sports Management UK Ltd, including one payment of more than £11,000 for Manchester United season tickets, which would then be paid by companies he favoured, a judge was told.

Peter Kinsella, 58, a contract manager at Boulting, and Gary Haines, 60, a director of Tritec Systems who also controlled Electron Systems, as well as the companies themselves, are also due to be sentenced with Corry.

Corry, of Lymm, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to five counts of corruption; Haines, of Market Drayton, Shropshire, entered guilty pleas to two counts of corruption; Kinsella, of Manchester, pleaded guilty to three counts of corruption and three counts of conspiracy to bribe.

WABGS pleaded guilty to one count of failure to prevent bribery; Tritec Systems pleaded guilty to corruption and failure to prevent bribery; Electron Systems pleaded guilty to corruption and failure to prevent bribery.