Canoe fraudster watched 'death news' from B&B

Back-from-the-dead British canoeist John Darwin watched TV news of his “death” while holed up in a B&B, according to his memoir allegedly smuggled out of jail.

Excerpts from the book, entitled 'The Canoe Man, Panama & Back', have been published by The Sun.

Prison authorities have launched a probe into how the 59-year-old allegedly smuggled his memoirs out of jail.

Darwin was sentenced to six years and three months in July 2008 after admitting fraud while his wife Ann was jailed for six-and-a-half years for fraud and money laundering.

The pair netted around £250,000 (€290,000) after convincing the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their two sons Mark and Anthony that he had drowned in the 2002 canoeing accident.

Darwin’s story unravelled after he returned to the UK in November 2007, telling police he was a missing person with amnesia.