A CHURCH probe into the conduct of disgraced former Co-operative Bank boss and Methodist minister Paul Flowers is still rumbling on 18 months after he was suspended from the ministry.

Flowers was convicted of possessing drugs including cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine in May last year after he pleaded guilty to three charges against him.

Following his sentencing, when he was fined £400 and ordered to pay £125 in prosecution costs and a victim surcharge, the Methodist Church announced it would start its own internal investigation.

But that investigation is taking longer than it ordinarily would, a Church spokesman has told the Telegraph & Argus.

Last July, the Church told the T&A there had been delays and hoped to end it in August but nine months on and the procedure is still ongoing.

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In a further update on the situation, the spokesman said: "We are still going through the process. Ordinarily it would be swifter than this but we would rather to do it right than quick."

The investigation was made confidential so people would feel able to speak freely.

Flowers retired from the ministry last summer and was suspended back in November 2013 from the Bradford South Methodist Circuit .

Despite his court conviction, the former Bradford councillor continues to be paid his pension but has moved out of his rent-free Methodist manse in Hollingwood Drive, Great Horton.

The charges against Flowers came about after he was secretly filmed paying £300 for drugs. He pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of class A drugs cocaine and crystal meth and one count of possession of the class C drug ketamine. In his mitigation the court was told stress and caring for his terminally-ill mother were blamed for his use of drugs.

The Church spokesman said: "We consider ministry to be a life-long calling, it never stops. He asked for permission to 'sit down' from the ministry - a term used by the Church for retirement - and his request was granted."

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, which the Church says is more like a complaints procedure against him than an inquiry, he could be permanently removed from the office as a minister.

Flowers, who was also suspended by the Labour party for bringing it into disrepute, had served as a ward councillor for ten years when he quit Bradford Council back in 2011. He had blamed it on workload saying he could not carry out his Council work with his then financial role as chairman of the Co-Operative Bank but the Council later revealed he had “resigned immediately” after inappropriate but not illegal adult pornographic material was found on his work laptop by its IT staff .