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Get you up to speed: ‘Black Widow’ fraudster who scammed OAP out of £300,000 arrested in Tenerife | News UK

Pamela Gwinnett, 63, was arrested by Spanish police in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, after she was wanted by UK authorities for defrauding elderly woman Joan Green out of nearly £300,000. Gwinnett, who had skipped bail and failed to serve her six-year prison sentence, now faces extradition back to the UK.

Pamela Gwinnett, who fled to Tenerife in April 2022, was arrested following the issuance of an International Arrest Warrant by British authorities on July 14, 2023. A confiscation order has been made against her home in Adlington, Lancashire, in connection with the funds stolen from Joan Green, who passed away in November 2022.

Pamela Gwinnett has been arrested in Tenerife and is facing extradition back to the UK to serve a six-year prison sentence for fraud and theft. Chief Superintendent Helen Critchley stated, “This arrest highlights our commitment to relentlessly pursue those who commit crimes and exploit vulnerable people in our communities.”

What remains unclear — It is not known whether Pamela Gwinnett will consent to extradition or contest her return to the UK.

Fraudster arrested in Tenerife after scamming elderly woman out of £300,000

A cruel and manipulative fraudster dubbed the ‘Black Widow’ after conning an elderly woman out of nearly £300,000 and then fleeing to Tenerife has finally been arrested.

Pamela Gwinnett, 63, treated frail and vulnerable Joan Green as a ‘cash cow to be miked’ – even stealing her money after she died in November 2022.

Gwinnett, who claimed to be the 89-year-old widower’s friend and carer, isolated her from her family and accused them of mistreating her.

She used the cash to make ‘substantial’ mortgage payments, enjoy slap-up meals and get Botox treatments.

Gwinnett was found guilty of fraud and theft by a jury at Preston Crown Court last year.

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But she skipped bail and flew to Tenerife before the trial even started, meaning she has yet to serve a single day of the six-year sentence imposed in her absence.

Spanish police have now released footage showing a tanned Gwinnett in handcuffs.

She now faces being extradited back to the UK to start her prison sentence.

Fraudster arrested in Tenerife after scamming elderly woman out of £300,000
Pamela Gwinnett was given a six-year sentence in her absence (Picture: Steve Allen)
Moment 'Black Widow' fraudster who conned pensioner out of ?300,000 is arrested in Tenerife
Spanish police have now released footage showing a tanned Gwinnett in handcuffs (Picture: Policia Nacional)

Spanish police went public with more details of the Tenerife arrest today without formally naming Gwinnett as they revealed she had been held in the resort town of Los Cristianos and owned a villa there.

In their first comments since the detention, a National Police force spokesman said: ‘Officers have arrested a fugitive in southern Tenerife who was wanted by the UK authorities for a fraud offence committed against an elderly woman.

‘The events described caused significant public outrage and strong condemnation among the British public due to the method used and the victim’s extreme vulnerability, eventually gaining attention in Spain.

‘After being located in Tenerife, on July 14 National Police officers received the International Arrest Warrant issued by the British authorities.

‘She was arrested just a few hours later in the town of Los Cristianos, Arona, where she owned a semi-detached villa and was living her daily life as normal.’

It was not immediately clear if Gwinnett had indicated whether she consented to extradition or would try to fight a forced return back to the UK.

She is likely to delay but not impede that return by contesting extradition.

Gwinnett fled to Tenerife in April last year.

Preston Crown Court Pamela Gwinnett who has just recived 6 years jail after after being a carer for Joan Green and stole over ?300K from her she has fled to Tenerife and the judge sent her to jail in her absence Pic shows David with Joan Green
Gwinett isolated Joan Green from her friends and family (Picture: Steve Allen)

The judge who convicted her in her absence went on to make a confiscation order against her, putting the fraudster’s home in Adlington, Lancashire, at risk.

Her trial was told she discovered Joan was wealthy having worked as an accountant, while her husband had been a senior manager at British Aerospace.

‘Both had worked hard during their working lives, and they had invested carefully and shrewdly for their old age,’ Judge Michael Maher said.

‘But 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.

‘The masquerade was so successful that she made you a lasting power of attorney within a relatively short time of knowing you.’

While claiming to care for the pensioner, she was also isolating Joan from her friends and family by lying that her closest relatives were stealing her pension money.

She went so far as to move Joan into a care home near where she lived in Adlington to keep her close when Covid hit in March 2020.

When the country emerged from lockdown a year later, Gwinett took Joan back to her own home in Chorley – but padlocked the gates and changed the landline number to protect her ‘golden goose’.

Undated handout photo issued by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) of Pamela Gwinnett, 63, who is to be extradited from Spain to face justice after conning nearly ??300,000 out of a vulnerable pensioner. Gwinnett 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. Last October, she was convicted and sentenced in her absence to six years in jail for theft and fraud by abuse of position. Issue date: Thursday July 16, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Gwinnett no faces being extradited from Spain to serve heer six-year prison sentence (Picture: Greater Manchester Police/PA)

PC Georgia Loughton, said: ‘I am pleased that Pamela Gwinnett will be returned to the UK where she will serve her sentence. 

‘Pamela knowingly defrauded a vulnerable woman out of almost £300,000, cutting off all contact with her family and controlling every aspect of her life. 

‘She was trusted by Joan, and she used this position of trust to her own financial gain. Joan was isolated from her family and denied from seeing her grandchildren and their children. 

‘Sadly, Joan passed away in 2022, however we hope that the return of Pamela to the UK to serve her sentence gives Joan’s family a sense of justice as they look to move on with their lives.’

Chief Superintendent Helen Critchley, said: ‘Our teams have worked alongside the National Crime Agency and Spanish authorities to ensure that Gwinnett is brought back to the UK to face the consequences of her crimes. 

‘This arrest highlights our commitment to relentlessly pursue those who commit crimes and exploit vulnerable people in our communities. We will take any necessary action to ensure they face justice. 

‘I would like to thank the team for their diligent investigation which led to Gwinnett’s conviction and now her arrest. I hope this news offers an element of solace to Joan’s family.’

‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents

A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.

Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.

She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.

In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.

“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”

She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.

McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”

She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”

At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.

McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.

The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.

But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.

The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.

Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.

It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.

Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.

“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”

She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/virginia-mccullough-arrest-video-murder-parents-chelmsford-b2627978.html

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Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.

The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.

During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.

Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.

Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.

Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.

Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.

The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.

At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.

“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.

It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.

The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.

Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.

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