The former chairman a leading UK bank has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of scamming a vulnerable, elderly friend
Paul Flowers, 74, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court earlier today, after admitting 18 counts of fraud worth nearly £100,000
The court found him guilty of taking advantage of his position as the executor of the will and holder of power of attorney for a woman named Margaret Jarvis.
Flowers was due to be sentenced earlier this month but did not turn up, resulting in a warrant for his arrest.
The former Methodist minister previously chaired the Co-operative Bank.
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The boss of a major high street bank has been jailed for fraud
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However, Flowers came under fire 2013 after the Mail on Sunday released secretly filmed footage of him handing over £300 in cash for crystal meth and other drugs in Leeds.
Judge Dean, who proceeded over the case, stated earlier this month that an immediate custodial sentence would be “almost inevitable”.
This is due to the offence taking place over a sustained period involving a “vulnerable victim”.
As well as this, Flower’s three-year tenure at the bank was criticised following the Co-Operative Bank’s 2017 rescue by US hedge funds.
Flowers served as chair of the Co-Op Bank
PA
Due to this, the 74-year old was banned from the financial services industry by the UK’s City regulator.
The court heard how Flowers leveraged his public profile to gain the trust of Jarvis, who was suffering from dementia.
As her condition worsened, and she could no longer manage her finances, Flowers started controlling her accounts and using her hard-earned cash to his own benefit.
After Jarvis’s death in 2016 at the age of 82, Flowers continued taking her cash.
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Flowers used his position as the bank’s chair to trick his victim
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Flowers, originally from Salford, had admitted 18 counts of fraud at an earlier hearing, amounting to nearly £100,000 over a two-year period ending in 2017.
Judge Dean said“This is a story of betrayal, no less than that.
“Betrayal by you of an old friend, someone who trusted you, who had every reason to believe she could trust you.”