John Darwin, Missing Since 2002 Turns Up & is Arrested

[Pauli]

Canoeist who vanished at sea in 2002 turns up at police station



Aidan Jones
Monday December 3, 2007
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)

A canoeist who disappeared off the North Yorkshire coast more than five years ago and was presumed drowned has walked into a London police station and identified himself to officers.John Darwin, a married father of two and former prison officer, was thought to be dead in 2002 when his shattered red canoe washed up on the beach below his clifftop home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.

Darwin, 51 at the time, had last been seen setting off heading for rocks opposite his home at about 9am on March 21. He was reported missing when he failed to turn up for the night shift at neighbouring Holme House prison, sparking a 16-hour search along the coast involving police and coastguard teams

A paddle was found and weeks later the wreckage of Darwin's canoe washed up.At 5.30pm on Saturday, Darwin identified himself to officers at a police station in central London. Where he has been in the intervening years remains a mystery.

A spokesman for Cleveland police, who conducted the initial investigation into his disappearance, said: "Mr Darwin identified himself as a missing person from Hartlepool.

"He is fit and well and relatives have been informed of his whereabouts. It is not known at this time where he has spent the last five-and-a-half years."
Police will interview Darwin over the next few days.

Six months after he vanished, Anne Darwin, who worked as a doctor's receptionist said: "When John went missing, I stayed up all night. It was a nightmare and it's still going on. I feel very much in limbo.

"People die, have a funeral, they have a headstone, there is something to mark the fact they existed on this Earth. But without a body, I don't know how we can mark John's life.

"All I want is to bury his body. It would enable me to move on. It's difficult to grieve without bringing things to a close, but as it is I'm in limbo and there's nothing I can do."

Neighbours said Anne Darwin emigrated to Australia last year, but the couple's two sons, both in their early 20s, are believed to be living in the UK.
Last night neighbours recalled helicopters and lifeboats sweeping 30 miles of the coast during the search for Darwin.

"He set out from just beneath his home paddling to the sea, and never came back. When the canoe was found, it was presumed that he had drowned," one neighbour said.

"To have him turn up like this is quite incredible."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2220995,00.html

[Pauli]

December 6, 2007
John Darwin's sons say they were 'victims of a scam'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00250/arrest_250733a.jpg
John Darwin was arrested late on Tuesday at the house of his son, Anthony, in Basingstoke

Sophie Tedmanson The children of ‘back from the dead' canoeist John Darwin have expressed their anger and confusion at finding out they may have been duped by their parents, who were photographed together in Panama last year when their father was thought to be dead.

Anthony and Mark Darwin said they were shocked at the revelation, after their mother, Anne, confessed to reporters she had known that John, declared dead after disappearing on a canoeing trip in 2002, was alive.

“In the short space of time following our Dad’s appearance in London on Saturday, we have gone through a rollercoaster of emotion,” Anthony 29, and Mark, 31, said in a statement.

“From the height of elation at finding him to be alive to the depths of despair at the recent stories of fraud and these latest pictures - and the shock of being thrust into the media spotlight.

“If the papers’ allegations of a confession from our Mam are true then we very much feel that we have been the victims in a large scam.

“How could our Mam continue to let us believe our Dad had died when he was very much alive?”

The brothers said they had not spoken to either of their parents since Mr Darwin’s arrest, “and at this present time we want no further contact with them”.

Mr Darwin, a former prison officer, was declared dead in 2003 after going missing off the coast of Hartlepool in the north east of England the previous year.

He was arrested early yesterday on suspicion of fraud at Anthony’s house in Basingstoke, where he had been staying since walking into a London police station on the weekend and declaring: “I think I’m a missing person”.

This morning Mr Darwin, 57, who claims he has lost his memory, was declared medically fit for questioning and was being interviewed by Cleveland police this afternoon.

His sons said they also wanted answers. “We too want to know where he has been and what he has been doing,” they said. “We have been in constant contact with the police and will be helping them with their enquiries in any way we can.”

After releasing their statement the sons have now gone to ground.
According to his flatmates, Mark Darwin fled his north London home in the middle of the night, taking his laptop and leaving notes to his girlfriend, including instructions about how to get to London’s City airport.

The 31-year-old, who was due to start a new job this week, has not been seen by his flatmates since earlier in the week when he told them to pretend he had already moved out after the family became the subject of intense media attention when his father mysteriously reappeared.

Cleveland police said while the sons are not suspects, detectives do want to talk to them as witnesses in the case.

Mrs Darwin, 55, is facing questions about why she claimed on her husband’s life insurance and is facing possible extradition from Panama, where she moved six weeks ago.

When confronted with the photograph of her and her husband in a real estate office in Panama, apparently taken in June 2006, she confessed she had known her husband was alive.

In a newspaper interview Mrs Darwin said she would return from Panama to “face the music”.

"My sons are never going to forgive me,” she said. “They are going to hate me. It looks as though I am going to be left without a husband, a home or a family now.”

Mrs Darwin insisted her sons knew nothing about the situation and believed that their father had been dead until his reappearance on the weekend. “My family will be absolutely devastated by this,” she said.

“My sons knew nothing. They thought they had just got their Dad back and now he’s been whisked away. Now they are going to hate me.”

Cleveland police have issued a worldwide appeal for information about Mr Darwin and where he has been for the past five years. Anyone with information should call: 0207 158 0010.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3010589.ece

[grammybears]

I would be very angry if my parents had pulled this on me and my sisters. What does she expect from her sons. Her and their father have lied to and I am sure they fill resentment.
As a parent I could never imagine doing this to my children.

jmoo

[LiveLaughLuv]

“In the short space of time following our Dad’s appearance in London on Saturday, we have gone through a rollercoaster of emotion,” Anthony 29, and Mark, 31, said in a statement.

“From the height of elation at finding him to be alive to the depths of despair at the recent stories of fraud and these latest pictures - and the shock of being thrust into the media spotlight.

Well, what did she expect. She deceived her children.

She went along with this even visiting him, after being declared dead.

She knew he was alive and cashed in on his life insurance.

[sarahhod]

John Darwin: 'Back-from-the-dead canoeist' appeals his sentence

John Darwin, the 'back-from-the-dead canoeist' who was jailed for carrying out a "sophisticated" £250,000 fraud, is challenging his six-year prison sentence in the Court of Appeal on Thursday.


Last Updated: 8:45AM GMT 26 Mar 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00780/John-Darwin-460_780544c.jpg Mrs Darwin, a former doctor's receptionist, was convicted of six counts of fraud and nine of money laundering after a trial. Mr Darwin had admitted deception charges. Photo: EPA


His wife, Anne Darwin, 56, is also making a renewed application for permission to appeal against conviction at a hearing in London before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, Mr Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Wyn Williams.
If that application is rejected the judges are expected to go on to hear her challenge against her six-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
The pair were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court last July over a swindle which deceived the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their sons, Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29.
Mrs Darwin, a former doctor's receptionist, was convicted of six counts of fraud and nine of money laundering after a trial. Mr Darwin had admitted deception charges.
Her case was that her "domineering" husband forced her to go through with the plan to con insurance and pension companies by faking his death at sea.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, told the Darwins their sons' lives were "crushed" by the deception, and that meant a severe sentence was needed.
The court heard the plan to hoax insurers and pension schemes into believing former teacher and prison officer Mr Darwin was dead was hatched as the couple faced losing their imposing seafront home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in 2002.
They had a 12-home property portfolio and were struggling to make mortgage repayments when he paddled into the sea in his home-made canoe and then disappeared.
He reappeared at a London police station in December 2007 claiming he had amnesia and thought he was a missing person.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5053310/John-Darwin-Back-from-the-dead-canoeist-appeals-his-sentence.html

[sarahhod]

Canoe pair lose jail term appeals


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45607000/jpg/_45607679_44829287.jpg
The Darwins conned their sons, friends, police and insurers

Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne have both lost appeals against their prison sentences.

They were jailed in July 2008 for their parts in a sophisticated scam in which Darwin faked his own death to fraudulently claim £250,000.
The 58-year-old was jailed for six years for deception while Anne Darwin, 56, was jailed for six-and-a-half-years for fraud and money laundering.
A judge at the Court of Appeal ruled that the sentences were not excessive.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif This was the grossest form of betrayal http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Lord Judge, Court of Appeal

Neither John nor Anne Darwin were present to hear their challenges rejected by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with two other judges.
Lord Judge said it was not appropriate to interfere with the decision reached by the trial judge at Teesside Crown Court.
He described it as a "notorious case" with "unique or virtually unique aggravating features".
One important consequence of Darwin's actions, Lord Judge said, was that a number of individuals became involved in the "unpleasant and potentially dangerous task of trying to find and rescue him".
After John Darwin's disappearance, everyone, including the couple's two sons Mark and Anthony, were unaware that he was still alive.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44834000/jpg/_44834146_darwinsons226.jpg The couple's sons were the "real victims", the trial judge said

Lord Judge added: "For the fraud to work at all, the children had to be fooled. They had to believe that they, and she, were bereaved.
"This was the grossest form of betrayal."
The Darwins came up with the plot as they faced bankruptcy, and hoped to start a new life in Panama.
In March 2002, the prison officer paddled out to sea close to his home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, then abandoned his boat.
His wife drove him in secret to Durham railway station, then raised the alarm, prompting a huge air-sea rescue operation.
John Darwin apparently spent several weeks in the Lake District, then returned home, where his wife kept him hidden inside the house for about four years.
Eventually the Darwins moved to Panama, where John Darwin lived under the assumed identity of "John Jones".

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44819000/jpg/_44819357_apartment_ap226.jpg The couple owned an apartment and land in Panama

But the plot unravelled when Darwin reappeared at a London police station in December 2007 claiming he had lost his memory.
Police believe his sudden return may have been sparked by a row between the couple.
Darwin and his wife were later convicted of the fraud, in which they tricked family, friends, police and insurance companies into believing he had drowned.
John Darwin admitted the deception charges and Anne Darwin, who had denied being involved, was convicted after a trial.
The judge at Teesside Crown Court said the couple's two sons were the "real victims".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7967603.stm

[sarahhod]

Canoe man John Darwin's life story to be turned into BBC drama



http://images.mirror.co.uk/design/transparent.gif
http://images.mirror.co.uk/design/transparent.gif

27/03/2009 (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/03/27/)

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/jul2008/6/2/6961951D-BD8C-5161-8995923D48EE6976.jpg
The amazing story of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin is to be turned into a drama for the BBC.
The hour-long special will tell the story of his staged disappearance at sea in 2002, and his five years living next door to his wife Anne in Seaton Carew, re-creating the "hidden door" behind her bedroom wardrobe.
The Mirror exposed the insurance scam in 2007.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/03/27/canoe-man-john-darwin-s-life-story-to-be-turned-into-bbc-drama-115875-21231009/

[sarahhod]

They got off lightly IMO with 6 years. They will only serve half of this term so...3 years maximum.

It's their sons I feel for, they are the true victims in this case.

[sarahhod]

Judge blasts Darwins' 'grossest form of betrayal'

http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/HMJJ//TH1_27320093confessions-couple-400.jpg
Anne and Jonn Darwin

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/images/1pixel_spacer.gif (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:%20ShowThumb%281%29;)

Published Date:
26 March 2009
By Mail reporter (mail.news@northeast-press.co.uk)

A TOP judge accused canoe couple John and Anne Darwin of committing the "grossest form of betrayal" as he threw out their appeals against their sentences.
The Seaton Carew couple lost their appeals against their jail sentences for a "sophisticated" £250,000 fraud they carried out by faking his death at sea.

Their challenges were rejected by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with two other judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

Neither of the pair were present for the hearing, in which John Darwin wanted a reduction in the sentence of six years and three months imposed on him by a judge at Teesside Crown Court last July for deception.

His wife, 56, was convicted of six counts of fraud and nine of money laundering after a trial.

She was sentenced to six and a half years, which she appealed against as "excessive".

Lord Judge ruled that the sentences passed on the couple were severe but not "manifestly excessive".

One of the features of the case was that they had committed the "grossest form of betrayal" against their "entirely innocent" sons.

He described it as a "notorious case" with "unique or virtually unique aggravating features".

Mrs Darwin's trial had heard how the plan to hoax insurers and pension schemes into believing Mr Darwin was dead was hatched as the couple faced losing their home in The Cliff, in Seaton Carew, in 2002.

He reappeared at a London police station in December 2007, claiming he had amnesia and thought he was a missing person.

Lord Judge said once John Darwin staged his apparent drowning at sea, an important consequence of their actions was that a number of individuals became involved in the "unpleasant and potentially dangerous task of trying to find and rescue him".

Shortly after his disappearance, Darwin, now 58, returned home in disguise "and then lied his way into a new identity by obtaining a driving licence and passport and all the necessary documents required for modern living".

In October 2006 Mrs Darwin emigrated to Panama "leaving her sons with the impression that their widowed mother was now financially secure and settled in a new country of her own choice".

Lord Judge added: "In the meantime, her husband had also taken himself to Panama. We do not accept that this was a relatively short-lived period of criminal activity. The sorting out of the dishonest accounts continued right up until mid-2007.

"It is clear on the evidence that the fraud only came to an end because they, or perhaps he, had had enough in the dislocation of their family life.

"Their return was not the consequence of remorse or a sense of guilt.
What they were trying to do was to make up for the impact on themselves of the consequences of their own criminal activities."


http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/Judge-blasts-Darwins39-39grossest-form.5114534.jp

[Roamer]

I feel very bad for the two sons. They obviously had no idea what their parents had done.