FRAUDSTER ARRESTED AT MANCHESTER AIRPORT AFTER FLEEING TO TENERIFE

Pamela Gwinnett, 63, was arrested by Greater Manchester Police as she disembarked from a Ryanair flight at Manchester Airport on Thursday 30 July at 8pm. Gwinnett had fled to Tenerife following her conviction for fraud by abuse of position and theft. National Crime Agency officers accompanied her from the aircraft before she was placed in handcuffs by waiting Greater Manchester Police officers. She was transported away in a police van and scheduled to appear at Preston Crown Court on Friday for failing to appear for sentencing.

Gwinnett had obtained a total of £296,000 from Joan Green, an elderly woman for whom she served as an unofficial carer, using bullying, coercion and threats. One report described the victim as 89 years old; another stated she was approaching her 90th birthday when she died in November 2022. The court was told Gwinnett continued stealing from Green even after her death. Gwinnett had absconded to the Spanish island merely five hours after a judge rejected her application to vary her bail conditions in April 2025.

Gwinnett, of Greenfield Road, Adlington, had pleaded not guilty to the charges but was found guilty by a jury. Her flight departure marked a significant development in a case where the defendant had evaded facing justice in person for an extended period. The arrest follows coordination between British law enforcement and the National Crime Agency.