CHORLEY, Aug 4 — A woman who posed as a carer for an 89-year-old pensioner in this Lancashire town has been imprisoned after spending nearly £300,000 of her victim’s money and then fleeing to Tenerife for 16 months, Lancashire Constabulary has confirmed.
Prosecutors charged Pamela Gwinnett with fraud in early 2025 following an investigation into her exploitation of Joan Green. Between December 2019 and November 2022, Gwinnett drained close to £300,000 from the pensioner’s accounts. At the time, she was presenting herself as Green’s carer.
As the legal process began, Gwinnett left the country. In April 2025 she travelled to Tenerife, saying she needed to scatter her brother’s ashes. Instead, she remained there for the next 16 months, living in a villa and enjoying a lavish lifestyle. She was eventually apprehended and brought back to face the legal process that had been under way.
The force behind the investigation
Lancashire Constabulary, the territorial police force for the ceremonial county in North West England, handled the case. The force is headquartered at Hutton, near Preston, and has a history stretching back to 18 December 1839, when it was founded with an original strength of 502 men. Captain John Woodford served as its first chief constable.
By 1965, the force had grown to an actual strength of 3,454 officers, making it the second largest in Great Britain after the Metropolitan Police and the largest county force. It has also adapted its ranks over time: female officers were first allowed in 1917, given uniforms only in the 1950s, and paid at the same rate as male colleagues from the 1970s. Its dog section was established in 1948, with the German shepherd eventually regarded as the most suitable breed.
Cross-border challenges
The Gwinnett case is a reminder of how difficult it can be to pursue a suspect who crosses an international border. For 16 months she remained beyond the immediate reach of the force, before cooperation between jurisdictions led to her apprehension and imprisonment. The outcome also highlights the importance of such cooperation in bringing financial criminals to account.
Lancashire Constabulary itself has seen its own boundaries change over the years. In the 1970s, its area was reduced to cover the re-bordered Lancashire, with other districts falling under Cumbria Constabulary, Greater Manchester Police and Merseyside Police. A proposed merger with Cumbria Constabulary, announced in February 2006 and accepted by both forces that month, was later dropped in July 2006 because the government failed to resolve issues with the council tax precept.
In 2007, the force was ranked joint first out of 43 forces by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies, alongside Surrey, across seven assessment areas including tackling crime, protecting vulnerable people, and neighbourhood policing.
The encouraging part, for those following the case, is that the legal process ran its course despite the delay and distance. Attention now turns to whether the case prompts a wider discussion about protecting older people from financial exploitation, and about how quickly authorities on different sides of a border can move when a suspect chooses to flee.
