Ex Co-op Bank boss jailed for £100k fraud

FORMER Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers has been jailed for three years after stealing £100,000 from an vulnerable elderly woman.

- By Pat Hurst

Flowers, 74, betrayed old friend Margaret Jarvis and spent her cash on drugs, holidays and gifts for himself, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The former Labour councillor and church minister - dubbed the “Crystal Methodist” after a newspaper drugs sting was in charge of the Co-op bank between 2010 and 2013.

Retired teacher Miss Jarvis had Alzheimer's. She never married or had children and his profile encouraged her to trust him with her affairs.

However, Flowers began controlling her accounts and using her cash for his own selfish ends. He continued taking her money after her death, aged 82, in 2016 at a care home near Amersham, Bucks.