Wife reveals bizarre life of British canoeist
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
Jack Lewis
December 09, 2007 12:00am
THE British man who faked his death and hid for five years turned himself in because he missed his sons, his wife has claimed.
Anne Darwin said her husband John, 57, had staged his disappearance so she could claim on insurance policies and pay off their debts, but living secretly in England and Panama had worn him down and, eventually, he could not bear the separation from his children.
She made the claims in an interview with British newspaper
The Daily Mail as she prepared to return to England from Panama.
She also revealed:
DARWIN spent most of his time in hiding in the family home in northeast England. When family or friends came to stay, he would retreat to a bedsit he owned in the adjoining property, reaching it through a secret passage concealed behind a wardrobe.
HE was in the bedsit when his grieving sons Mark and Anthony returned from the inquest into his "death".
HE had a false passport and used it on trips to Spain and the US.
WHEN he became bored with being cooped up, Darwin would walk along the beach in front of his house in disguise.
SHE knew her husband was alive and well when she cashed in a life insurance policy for $60,000 and paid off a $300,000 mortgage with another life policy.
Mrs Darwin, 55, said she genuinely believed her husband had died when he failed to return from a canoeing trip on March 21, 2002. His canoe was found washed up on the coast weeks later. But she admits that Darwin had talked about faking his death because of their debts.
Mrs Darwin expects to be arrested on suspicion of fraud when she arrives in Britain.
"I suppose it became a way of life," she told the newspaper. "It was very difficult, though, and I was always terrified that we would be found out."
Mrs Darwin said at the time her husband devised his plan, they were heavily in debt, largely brought on by problems with their bedsit rental business.
"We were struggling to make payments and there were late payment fees and bank charges that crippled us," she said. "At that time we had about 12 houses. They were rental investments but people were slow in paying us and it just became too much trying to look after the properties and keep full-time jobs as well."
Darwin believed the only solution was for him to "die" so his wife could cash in the insurance.
"I pleaded with him not to do it. I said it was wrong. I honestly didn't know what he'd planned or for when," she said.
Darwin reappeared at the family home in February 2003.
"He was an absolute mess, I didn't even recognise him at first," Mrs Darwin said. "He had a beard, he was dirty and thin, he looked like he'd been living rough. He smelled dreadful.
"He had a bath, I fed him and he put some clean clothes on. I hadn't been able to part with his clothes.
"Although I was pleased he was still alive, I think deep down a part of me was always angry."
What she regrets most is not telling her sons their father was alive.
"It was so hard not to tell the boys, but John was adamant I mustn't tell them," she said. "I suppose he didn't want them to turn him in. He told me just to go along with the story.
"I absolutely hate myself for having done it. There were many times I was tempted to come clean, many times.
"The boys missed their father and I know deep down he missed them as well and he always wanted to be reunited with them.
"Sometimes the boys would ring up wanting to talk. John was sitting there next to me and I would put the phone on to loudspeaker so he could hear them. If I didn't have an answer to one of their questions, John would write it down."
The Darwins decided they would be better off abroad in 2004.
"John had always been restless, always talking about moving abroad," Mrs Darwin said.
Darwin somehow managed to get a passport in the name of John Jones and, once the insurance money had been paid, he used the internet to research countries where they might be safe - and settled on Panama.
"He would send emails in my name requesting particulars of properties. The idea was for us to make a fresh start."
After a couple of visits to the country, the couple bought a two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Panama City called El Dorado.
Mrs Darwin returned to England in April to try to sell the house and tie up other loose ends, while her husband remained in Panama.
In October the family house was sold for $650,000 (all the other properties had been sold during the past few years, with no profit, she said) and days later Mrs Darwin flew to Panama.
"I spent the last weekend with the boys. Everyone was excited for me as I was about to embark on my new life. They all said they wanted to come and visit," she said.
But the isolation ate away at Darwin and he returned to Britain and, a week ago, walked into a police station and announced that he thought he was a "missing person".
He claimed he had amnesia and could remember nothing of the past five years. But police were immediately suspicious.
His astonished sons were called in to the station for a reunion. They telephoned their mother to tell her the news and handed their father the receiver so he could speak to his wife.
The couple had to fake astonishment and joy.
"I suppose it was a bit stilted," Mrs Darwin said. "I didn't think John was convincing."
Three days later, Darwin was arrested and remains in custody. After the arrest, the couple's story began to unravel and Mrs Darwin tearfully admitted her part in the fraud when a reporter confronted her in Panama with a photograph of her and her husband taken with a Panamanian real estate agent last year.
Mrs Darwin has no idea what the future holds and her thoughts are for her sons.
"I am so sorry and I hope they will realise what I did wasn't easy," she said. "Boys, please believe your Mam when I say I am truly sorry. I love you and hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me."
