Ex-bank chairman to be sentenced for fraud after handing himself in

Former Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers will be sentenced for fraud after he handed himself in to the police following a warrant for his arrest.

In July last year, Flowers, 74, of Salford, pleaded guilty to a catalogue of fraud, amounting to nearly £100,000, when he abused his position as the executor of the will, and holder of power of attorney, for a woman named Margaret Jarvis.

On February 14, Flowers would not show to his sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court and Judge Nicholas Dean KC issued a warrant not backed for bail.

Three days after failing to appear in court, he handed himself in to police and was remanded in custody to be sentenced today (Thursday 27 February).

Judge Dean said, earlier this month, that an immediate custodial sentence could be “almost inevitable” for an offence over a sustained period involving a “vulnerable victim.”

Flowers was dubbed the “Crystal Methodist” after The Mail on Sunday newspaper published secretly filmed footage of the then-church minister handing over £300 in cash for crystal meth and other drugs in Leeds in November 2013.

He pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates’ Court to possessing cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine and was fined £400.

In 2023, Flowers had stepped down from his role as chairman of the Co-Operative Bank – a position that he had held for more than three years.

However, he stood down as a result of a £1.5 billion black hole that was discovered in the banks finances.

The former Labour councillor in Rochdale and Bradford was later banned from the financial services industry after the City watchdog found he demonstrated a “lack of fitness and propriety required” to work in the sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority concluded he used his work mobile telephone to make a number of inappropriate telephone calls to a premium-rate chat line and used his work email account to send and receive sexually explicit and otherwise inappropriate messages, and to discuss illegal drugs.

The 74-year-old from Salford will appear in Crown Court today (Thursday 27 February) where he will be sentenced.