'Brass neck' fraudster Pamela Gwinnett who conned Chorley pensioner to appear at Preston Crown Court on Monday
‘To you, Joan Green was simply a cash cow to be milked until she was dry.’ Pamela Gwinnett, who defrauded £300,000 from a pensioner, has been extradited from Spain to the UK and due to appear at Preston Crown Court.
Fraudster Pamela Gwinnett, who has been extradited from Spain after conning nearly £300,000 from a vulnerable pensioner, is due appear at Preston Crown Court on Monday to hear her fate from the judge who originally sentenced her and to whom the case is reserved - Judge Michael Maher.
Gwinnett, 63, fled to Tenerife while on bail as she awaited trial following an investigation into her dealings with 89-year-old Joan Green, from Chorley, Lancashire.
Judge Michael Maher, in 2025
Last October, she was convicted and sentenced in her absence to six years in jail for theft and fraud by abuse of position.
On Friday, she was detained on her arrival at Manchester Airport in footage captured on police bodycams.
During a hearing at Preston Crown Court last year, Judge Michael Maher sentenced her as if she was present in the courtroom.
He said: “To you, Joan Green was simply a cash cow to be milked until she was dry. And so having inveigled your way into their lives behind the charade that you were a benevolent friend to Joan, you set about playing the long game to isolate and control a vulnerable woman and thereby enrich yourself.
“There was in my judgment a self-assured shamelessness to your fraudulent activity – to use the colloquialism, you have some brass neck Ms Gwinnett.”
Investigating officer Georgia Loughton, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “This result is the culmination of a tenacious investigation ensuring that we secured justice for the family of the victim at the centre of this case.
“Work to convict Gwinnett and her evading justice has been ongoing for quite some time. We were relentless in our commitment to bring her back to the UK, where she will now serve her term in prison. I would like to thank the National Crime Agency and Spanish police for their work with us on this case.”
Gwinnett plundered the life savings of the retired accountant when she became her carer as she controlled her finances and isolated her from her family. Mrs Green died shortly before her 90th birthday in November 2022, with Gwinnett, of Greenfield Road, Adlington, continuing to steal from her this way even after her death.
Earlier this year, a TV crew from Sky News confronted Gwinnett outside her picturesque seaside apartment on the island. She denied stealing from the pensioner, who died in November 2022, and told the channel: “I don’t need to answer these questions. Did I heck take the money.”
Gwinnett flew to Tenerife in April 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.
As part of her scam, Gwinnett made a series of false claims against Mrs Green’s stepdaughter and step-grandchild – including theft and neglect – before she gained power of attorney. Gwinnett used Mrs Green’s cash to fund an extravagant lifestyle as she bought a car worth £22,500 and enjoyed expensive beauty and Botox treatments.
Judge Maher added: “I sincerely hope that Ms Gwinnett is extradited back to the UK to serve this sentence for these egregious offences. It is an affront to justice and the rule of law for this defendant to be allowed to remain in Tenerife.”
Gwinnett has also been ordered to repay the money she stole.