The disgraced former boss of Co-op Bank Paul Flowers is facing jail after he admitted swindling a female friend of around £100,000 to pay for wine, luxury holidays abroad and trips to the theatre.
The 74-year-old ex-Methodist minister pleaded guilty to 18 charges of fraud and abusing his position while having power of attorney over Margaret Jarvis and, following her death, while the executor of her will.
He admitted withdrawing £70,000 of her money in cash and using another £34,000 to buy goods and services at Manchester Crown Court today.
Flowers, who was nicknamed the Crystal Methodist when his illegal drug use was exposed ten years ago, will be sentenced in October.
The court heard he spent almost £1,500 of Mrs Jarvis’ cash on wine from The Wine Society and also used £1,300 of her money to pay for cruises with P&O, plus another £1,800 on holidays, including trips on the Eurostar and to a four-star hotel in Corfu.
Former disgraced Co-Op Chairman Paul Flowers at Manchester Crown Court on the January 31, 2024
Paul Flowers is facing jail after he admitted swindling a female friend of around £100,000 to pay for wine, luxury holidays abroad and trips to the theatre (pictured on October 4, 2023)
Flowers, who appeared in court using a walking frame, also spent £1,275 on new carpets for his home and more than £100 on tickets for shows at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.
The court heard that the fraud totalled more than £180,000, but Flowers had submitted a basis of plea, accepted by prosecutors, in which he admitted just under £100,000 worth of fraudulent activity.
His crimes were described as a ‘gross breach of trust’.
Judge Sarah Johnston granted Flowers unconditional bailed but warned him: ‘All sentencing options are open.’
Bob Elias, defending, asked for pre-sentence reports and said Flowers was in ‘poor health’.
The case was delayed because Flowers suffered a stroke on August 29 last year, the day before he was due to appear in court.
He was ordered to attend court in person today (Fri) following the execution of a bench warrant.
Flowers, who was also a Labour councillor in both Rochdale and Bradford, was chairman of Co-op Bank between April 2010 and June 2013.
He was forced to resign from his £132,00-a-year post after a £1.5m blackhole was discovered it its finances, prompting an emergency rescue in June 2013.
The court heard the ‘stress’ of his Co-op bank job and ‘caring for his terminally ill mother’ were reasons for his drug use (stock image)
Six months later – just days after a disastrous appearance before the Treasury select committee – he was filmed apparently counting out £300 to buy cocaine and crystal meth in a drugs deal. After the Mail on Sunday was handed the footage he was nicknamed The Crystal Methodist.
In May 2014, Flowers was fined £525 after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine at Leeds magistrates’ court. The court heard the ‘stress’ of his Co-op job and ‘caring for his terminally ill mother’ were reasons for his drug use.
He was later caught on video snorting cocaine and entertaining rent boys at his home in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Flowers, who was sacked as a Methodist minister in December 2016, discussed his seedy lifestyle in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight, admitting: ‘I have sinned.’
Later, it emerged that he had resigned from Bradford Council in 2011 when ‘inappropriate but not illegal’ pornography was discovered on his laptop.
