A FURNESS pensioner extradited to Canada over fraud charges allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme before trial proceedings were eventually dropped due to court delays, according to a report.

Peter Kevin Miller was first accused of running a scheme more than a decade before his first appearance in court in Vancouver, according to Canada's CBC News.

The pensioner, who denied wrongdoing, was arrested in Grizebeck and extradited to British Columbia in 2021 to face 26 charges of fraud.

But the case was dropped in 2023 following delays after proceedings failed to come to court within an 18-month window mandated by the top court in Canada.

An alleged victim in the case, Edward Hebditch criticised the delays, claiming it showed there was a justice system 'for the perpetrators, but we have an injustice system for the victims'.

"We are not accounted for at all. We are not cared about. We are not consulted — nothing," he told CBC.

According to Canada's national broadcaster, court records alleged that the defendant convinced fellow members of a football club to trust him to invest their money.       

He allegedly delivered monthly returns of at least three per cent to more than a dozen people, but was accused of using money from new investors to pay dividends to old ones, while mixing their funds with his own money.

The pensioner denied the claims and claimed he also lost money, CBC reported. 

It is said that it took more than a year after prosecutors levelled charges against Mr Miller for Canadian authorities to seek his extradition.

He was brought before South Cumbria Magistrates' Court in 2020 and then faced an extradition hearing.

The Home Secretary approved a request to extradite the then 71-year-old.

The defendant was told to provide £100,000 as a security deposit, surrender his passport and have a night curfew with electronic monitoring.

He was also prohibited from being near any international travel hub or applying for or being in possession of international travel documents. 

The 26 charges related to offences allegedly committed between 2010 and 2013 in Vancouver.

A trial was due to begin in May last year.