Fraudster who fled to Tenerife arrested at airport

A woman who abused her position as a carer to con almost £300,000 out of a vulnerable pensioner then fled to Tenerife has been arrested on her return to the UK.

Pamela Gwinnett was convicted of theft and fraud after she plundered the life savings of 89-year-old Joan Green from Chorley, Lancashire after becoming her carer.

She flew to Tenerife in April 2025 while on bail and was sentenced in her absence to six years in jail.

Gwinnett was extradited back to the country after an investigation by UK and Spanish authorities and was escorted into a police van on arrival at Manchester Airport on Thursday.

Gwinnett will now have to serve her six-year sentence, and is set to appear at Manchester Magistrates Court later in relation to her failing to appear at court previously.

When she was sentenced in her absence last year, Preston Crown Court heard Gwinnett controlled retired accountant Joan Green's finances and isolated her from her family.

The judge in the case said Gwinnett treated the 89-year-old as a "cash cow to be milked until she was dry".

The fraudster flew to Tenerife in 2025 just hours after a court application to vary her bail conditions to allow her to purportedly scatter her brother's ashes on the island was refused.

She was confronted by Sky News outside her seaside apartment on the island and denied stealing from the pensioner, telling reporters: "I don't need to answer these questions. Did I heck take the money."

The court heard Gwinnett used Green's cash to fund an extravagant lifestyle as she bought a car worth £22,500 and enjoyed expensive beauty and Botox treatments.

PC Georgia Loughton of Greater Manchester Police said: "Work to convict Gwinnett and her evading justice has been ongoing for quite some time."

"Unfortunately, the victim in this case sadly passed away in 2022. Gwinnett's actions have denied the victim's family closure – we hope some form of closure comes from this result."

Clare Meehan from the National Crime Agency said: "Pamela Gwinnett abused her position as a caregiver to commit serious fraud offences against a vulnerable woman.

"Since she fled the UK, the NCA has worked closely with Greater Manchester Police and our law enforcement partners in Spain to secure her return to face justice."

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