Canoe fraudsters to pay £600,000

Anne and John Darwin had embarked on a new life in Panama

The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin has offered to return more than half a million pounds of money the couple obtained fraudulently.

Lawyers for Anne Darwin said she would pay back £591,838 made from the scam she staged with her husband John, a Proceeds of Crime hearing was told.

The pair, from Seaton Carew, Teesside, were jailed after he faked his death to claim life insurance and pension cash.

John Darwin agreed to pay a nominal sum of £1, as he has no financial assets.

The one-day confiscation hearing was held at Leeds Crown Court.

From Catherine Marston at Leeds Crown Court Anne Darwin listened intently as the prosecution explained neither she nor her husband will contest the amount of money which must be repaid. Silent for much of the hearing, she only spoke to confirm her name. The court proceedings had been delayed to allow a two minutes silence to be observed for Remembrance Day but once the case began it soon became clear Anne Darwin would be repaying over £591,000. She is liable because all the assets are in her name. Her husband John will pay a nominal sum of just £1.

The couple convinced the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their two sons that John Darwin had drowned while canoeing in the North Sea in 2002.

However, he had been hidden away in a flat next door to his wife's home, and they later embarked on a new life in Panama.

In November 2007 he returned to the UK, telling police he was a missing person with amnesia.

Darwin, 58, was jailed in July 2008 for six years for deception, while 57-year-old Anne Darwin was jailed for six-and-a-half-years for fraud and money-laundering.

The hearing at Leeds Crown Court was told that the Darwins' realisable assets totalled £591,838.25.

Prosecutor Jolyon Perks said the victims were insurance companies Aviva, formerly known as Norwich Union, and AIG, with claims also made on John Darwin's pension and a Department of Work and Pensions payout.

This totalled £421,011.09 and the Crown also sought an order under the Proceeds of Crime Act for a further £162,837.16.

Mr Perks asked for a year for the money to be repaid.

If either fails to repay they could face an additional three-year jail sentence.

Mrs Darwin appeared in court, but her husband was not present.

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Det Insp Andy Greenwoood said the Darwins had lost the trust of their family