'Missing canoeist' probe police await return of wife

Police are tonight awaiting the return of the wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin as they continued to question him over his disappearance five-and-a-half years ago.

Detectives have until late tomorrow to continue to quiz the 57-year-old former teacher about where he has been since he vanished from the Hartlepool area in March 2002.

His wife Anne, 55, who emigrated to Panama six weeks ago, will also be arrested should she return to the UK.

It has been rumoured that she was in Miami with a reporter from a tabloid newspaper, but she has said she plans to come back to face the music and apologise to sons Mark and Anthony who believed their father died in a canoeing accident in the North Sea.

Initially, she expressed shock at the news her husband had walked into a London police station on Saturday, more than four years after he was officially declared dead, but subsequently admitted a photo which apparently shows the smiling couple last year in Panama was genuine.

Police took Mr Darwin to court today to ask magistrates in Hartlepool to grant them more time to question him.

Earlier, a police source said that the prison officer was sticking to his story that he had no recollection of the missing years of his life.

But later Detective Inspector Andy Greenwood told reporters: “He is putting forward some sort of account.”

However, Mr Greenwood said he could not yet give any further details about what Mr Darwin had told police because it was “a complicated and protracted inquiry”.

The police were granted a 36-hour extension to question the suspect, and the detective said he would apply again for more time if needed.

Mr Greenwood said Mr Darwin was “calm” and “relaxed” during the brief, private court hearing.

The detective said the fraud suspect was aware of the coverage the case had generated, and knew of the photograph of him and his wife, but the officer would not comment on Mr Darwin’s reaction.

His sons have tried to stay away from the media spotlight.

Mark, who shared a flat in North Finchley, London, was reported to have left the house suddenly, while his brother has also left his home in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Police remain in telephone contact with them, and a source insisted they were being treated as victims of the scam.

Mr Greenwood said: “They are keeping their heads down,” he said.

“The press release they gave was an indication of how badly they have been affected.

“It is for me to decide at a later date if they are witnesses.”

The sons issued a statement yesterday asking: “How could our mam continue to let us believe our dad had died when he was very much alive?”

Reports suggested former colleagues of Mrs Darwin, a doctor’s receptionist, heard her whispering to a man on the telephone who they suspected was her “dead” husband.

They contacted Cleveland Police three months ago.

Officers said they wanted to speak to an angler who claimed to have met John Darwin while fishing in Cornwall 18 months ago.

Dockyard worker Matt Autie, 37, said he now recognised his fishing friend as Mr Darwin from newspaper coverage.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said today that officers were trying to trace Mr Autie, from Helston, Cornwall.

“We would need to speak to him, it is all part of the inquiry, I am sure it is in progress at the moment,” said the police spokesman.

Mr Autie told the Sun the man he says is Mr Darwin told him he had done a “Reggie Perrin,” telling him: “I have gone missing, it worked out better for me and my missus.”

The inquiry team appealed for help in piecing together Mr Darwin’s movements since March 2001, and have received several dozen calls to a special hotline.

The force has also received 32 emails, mainly from the US and Panama.

The Press Complaints Commission said it had received no calls from the public about the widespread media coverage of the missing canoeist case.

A spokesman said the commission understood Mrs Darwin had received no direct payment from any newspaper for her story.

The Press Complaints Commission code states people likely to be a witness in a criminal trial should be not be paid for stories, and nor should confessed or convicted criminals.