Back-from-the-dead canoeist lived in family home, says wife

The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin has said he was living in their family home for three years after he was declared dead.

Anne Darwin, who is expected back in Britain this weekend, told reporters her husband hid in another part of the couple’s house when their two sons visited as he was adamant they should not know the truth.

“For three years, while virtually everyone close to us believed John was missing presumed dead, he was actually at home with me,” she said.

Mr Darwin is currently in police custody after he was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of fraud.

He disappeared from the couple’s home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, in March 2002 and was presumed drowned after his wrecked canoe was found. That was until he walked into a London police station last Saturday.

Cleveland Police have until late tonight to hold the 57-year-old former prison officer although officers yesterday said they will apply for more time if necessary.

Mrs Darwin, 55, is expected to be arrested when she returns to Britain.

She told reporters her husband had talked about faking his own death to escape debts.

“We had a lot of debt, in the tens of thousands. He said there was only one way out of the situation and that was to fake his death,” she said.

“I said it was the wrong thing to do and could not go along with it but he badgered away.”

But Mrs Darwin insisted she did not know he had gone ahead with the scam until he turned up on her doorstep 11 months after he went missing.

She claimed he threatened to say she was involved from the start if she reported him to the authorities.

Mrs Darwin has previously said that she claimed on his life insurance “in good faith” but in today’s report she admits she found out her husband was alive before the insurance companies paid out.

On the day of his inquest, she said her husband stayed in the bedsit because the couple’s sons Mark and Anthony were staying with her.

Mrs Darwin said she put the phone on loudspeaker if their sons called so her husband could listen in.

She said he had a bedsit in the house next door which the couple also owned so he could escape if guests arrived.

They applied for a passport and credit cards in the false name John Jones so Mr Darwin could look for a new home for the couple abroad, she said, adding that he once went to America to see a woman he had met on the internet.

She said the couple bought an apartment in Panama and she moved there seven weeks ago.

Her husband had been there longer and had to come back to England because, without a visa, he could not remain in Panama.

She said he told her he was going to hand himself in and say he had amnesia.

When news of Mr Darwin’s reappearance first broke, Mrs Darwin feigned surprise but she admitted she had already known when a photo surfaced showing the couple in Panama last year.

It was reported today that the couple bought land on the shore of Lake Gatun, 50 miles from Panama City, and planned to open an eco-tourist resort offering kayak trips.

Mrs Darwin is said to have set up a company called Jaguar Properties Corporation to buy the 200-hectare site for £200,000 (€277,000).

The inquiry team has appealed for help in piecing together Mr Darwin’s movements since March 2002, and has received several dozen calls to a special hotline.

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

The UK 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 PCC 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.

Meanwhile, John Darwin’s account to police of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance appears to differ from his wife’s version of events, it emerged today.

The Northern Echo, quoting a Cleveland Police source, said Mr Darwin gave officers a prepared statement when his interview started and chose not to answer any direct questions.

According to his statement, Mr Darwin could remember taking his canoe out to sea, “coming to” months later and making his way back to his home in Seaton Carew.

At home, he discovered his wife had cashed in his life insurance policy, which he said the couple could not afford to pay back, so they came up with a plan for him to disappear again, the police source told the newspaper.

This account seems to differ from that of Anne Darwin, who told reporters her husband had planned his disappearance to escape debts, and that she claimed the life insurance after he had returned.

The police source also told the Northern Echo last night: “As the inquiry has progressed over the last few days it has become abundantly clear that all was not as it seemed”.

The source added that the recent revelations made reported sightings of Mr Darwin since he disappeared more credible, saying: “With the magic of hindsight, it is now possible to accept the accounts witnesses have given over the years which were hard to believe at the time when Mr Darwin was thought to be dead.”

Asked about Mr Darwin’s account of events, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said today: “I can't comment on this because I’m not aware of it. If it is a police source and genuine it is from the investigation team.”