Back-from-the-dead British canoeist John Darwin was tonight facing a lengthy prison sentence after admitting a string of fraud charges totalling nearly £250,000 (€326,000).

The wife of a man who went missing in 2003 was under intense scrutiny today as she expressed her disbelief that a picture of the couple from last year had surfaced.

The back-from-the-dead canoeist who reappeared five-years after vanishing, was arrested on suspicion of fraud, police in England said today.