Fugitive carer caught in Tenerife
A British carer who was convicted in her absence of plundering the life savings of an 89-year-old woman has been successfully extradited to the UK after being tracked down and arrested in Tenerife, where she had been hiding since spring 2025. The fugitive was escorted by police officers after landing at Manchester Airport last Thursday.
Pamela Gwinnett flew to the Canary Island in April 2025 while on bail, just hours after a British court refused her permission to travel to Spain on the supposed pretext of scattering her brother’s ashes. After she fled, Preston Crown Court tried her in her absence and sentenced her to six years in prison for serious offences of theft and fraud.
Betrayal of trust
During the trial in Preston, the court heard how Gwinnett exploited her position of trust as carer to Joan Green, a retired accountant from Chorley in Lancashire, to isolate her completely from her family and take control of her finances.
Extravagant lifestyle
She used the stolen money to buy a vehicle worth more than £22,500 (around €26,000) and to fund high-end cosmetic treatments and Botox. The judge in the case described the carer’s conduct as treating the 89-year-old like “a cash cow to be milked dry”.
Tracked down by journalists
During her time in Tenerife, journalists from Sky News approached her outside her seafront apartment, where the fraudster declined to answer questions and denied the allegations.
Gwinnett’s capture and subsequent repatriation was the result of an extensive international investigation coordinated by Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spanish security forces.
Justice at last
“We have worked for a long time to convict Gwinnett and stop her attempt to evade justice. Sadly, the victim passed away in 2022 and this woman’s actions have prevented the family from finding peace. We hope her imprisonment brings them some relief,” said Georgia Loughton, an officer with Greater Manchester Police.
Clare Meehan, a representative of the NCA, emphasised the effectiveness of police cooperation in Spain in ensuring that serious crimes of this kind against vulnerable people do not go unpunished.
On her return to the UK, the prisoner was taken directly to a detention centre to serve her full six-year sentence, and is due to appear before Manchester Magistrates’ Court to answer an additional charge of failing to surrender to custody.
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