A VICAR from Farnham who reportedly ’fled to the continent’ before he was convicted last week of stealing £24,000 from his former parish in Yorkshire has handed himself in.

Simon Reynolds, the rector of St Andrew’s Parish Church in Farnham, was found guilty of stealing money paid for weddings and funerals during his time as priest-in-charge at All Saints Church in Darton between 2007 and 2013.

The 50-year-old did not return to Sheffield Crown Court for the verdict last Thursday and a warrant was issued for his arrest, with reports he had fled to Europe.

But on Monday morning Mr Reynolds handed himself in at a Sheffield police station and is due to be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday.