Canoeist 'had financial troubles'

Before he went missing in a canoe John Darwin refused to pay bills on time and stretched his finances to the limit, his wife has told a court.

John Darwin's wife accused him of controlling her

Anne Darwin, 56, said her husband controlled all their financial affairs and insisted they take out a maximum mortgage despite her fears.

Before his "disappearance" the couple had debts of £64,000 and were struggling to make the large mortgage repayments on the portfolio of properties they owned.

It was these mounting money woes, Mrs Darwin said, that led her 57-year-old husband to come up with the idea of faking his own death.

"He said he was probably worth more dead than alive," she told the jury at Teesside Crown Court.

'Second-year pupil'

Mrs Darwin has claimed she went along with her husband's plot because she was controlled by him.

He would say, 'Don't pay [the bills] now, wait until the red letter arrives, keep the money in the bank and get some interest.' Anne Darwin

She said: "All the major decisions were made by John.

"Superficially he would discuss things but my thoughts never seemed to carry any weight. Whatever John wanted to do, he did in the end."

Mrs Darwin said when the couple bought their first house together in the 1970s, he wanted extra fittings added despite it being brand new.

She said: "I prefer to live within our means rather than stretching ourselves to the limit, but that was the beginnings of stretching ourselves.

"That became the pattern whenever we moved house. We had the maximum mortgage."

That attitude also applied to the household bills, the court was told.

"He would say, 'Don't pay them now, wait until the red letter arrives, keep the money in the bank and get some interest.'"

Bankruptcy

Mr Darwin staged his elaborate disappearing act in March 2002 - "vanishing" during a canoeing trip close to his home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.

Mother-of-two Mrs Darwin said that at the time, although she was aware of some problems, she had no idea about the true scale of the debt they were facing.

But she said her husband had suggested the con a few months before he carried it out.

She said: "I thought it was just a throwaway comment.

"He said he had a solution and it was to fake his death. I didn't take him seriously."

But a few weeks later, she said, he raised the idea again.

Anne Darwin denies conspiring with her husband

She said: "I had a conversation on the second occasion that if things were so bad, why don't we sell some of the other rental properties?.

"John said that was not an option because of the way the mortgage had been set up so we would have to sell all or nothing."

Former doctor's receptionist Mrs Darwin said she then suggested they declare bankruptcy.

"He said, 'You don't understand what bankruptcy means'," she said.

"He didn't want to lose everything we had worked so hard for and didn't want to see our lives ruined.

"He said he didn't want to see us ending up living in a council house," she added.

Mrs Darwin said the idea of the hoax was not raised again and she did not believe it had ever been a serious suggestion.

But her husband did carry out the plan - and she is accused of conspiring with him. He has admitted his part, but she denies deception and money laundering charges.