Separate bills for fraud couple

Anne Darwin was pictured with her husband while he was still "missing"

Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne are to face separate bills from lawyers seeking to recover assets following their £250,000 fraud.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed it wants £455,000 from the sale of their two Teesside homes to be included in any settlement.

The pair were each jailed for more than six years after John Darwin faked his own death in 2002.

Police will assess the couple's assets before a hearing to be held later.

John Darwin, 57, was jailed for six years and three months after earlier admitting deception by faking his own death in a canoe accident.

Anne Darwin, 56, was given six and a half years for the fraud on Wednesday.

The pair had hoped to start a new life in Panama after getting into debt.

Police believe when they were arrested last December their assets were worth at least £500,000 - the equivalent of one million US dollars in Panama.

A judge will determine how much each will have to pay back at a proceeds-of-crime hearing to be held later this year.

Anne Darwin sold the couple's main home at 3 The Cliff in Seaton Carew for £295,000 and the adjoining number 4 for £160,000, after conning her two sons and the police that her husband had drowned.

The sons were "the real victims", the judge said

They also fraudulently claimed a total of £250,000 from insurance and pensions firms. Two insurance companies, Unat Direct and Norwich Union, have started legal proceedings against the couple.

Clare Donaldson, unit head with the CPS in Cleveland, said: "Any profit they made from the sale of the houses certainly would be included in any application to the court, because we would argue that was part of the benefit from their criminal activities.

"It will be a matter ultimately for the court to decide exactly how much they benefited by, because there are numerous inquiries ongoing to establish how much money they've got and how much they have made by their various activities."

Ms Donaldson said the pair would be treated separately and that an additional prison sentence would be imposed if they did not pay up.

She added: "They will each be required to settle an amount agreed by the judge and it is up to them how they do that."

Film deals

After Mr Darwin walked into a London police station, officers began unravelling their complicated finances.

Mrs Darwin had bought an apartment in Panama City, worth £28,000, and spent a further £198,000 on land to build a canoeing centre for tourists.

Mr Darwin, who loved flashy cars, splashed out £45,000 on a Toyota Land Cruiser.

The couple also had various bank accounts containing almost £2,000.

Ms Donaldson also said that any attempt by the Darwins to profit from their crimes would be seized upon.

She said legislation was pending to prevent criminals benefiting from book and film deals and any immediate attempt to cash in on the publicity would form part of the asset recovery process.

Det Insp Andy Greenwood, who led the inquiry into the couple, said: "We will pursue them through the Proceeds of Crime Act. All of the life they have built in Panama has been on the back of criminal activity."

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At Wednesday's hearing at Teesside Crown Court, Mr Justice Wilkie, said the couple's two sons, Mark and Anthony, who were unaware their father was still alive, were the "real victims".

The couple made everyone believe Mr Darwin had drowned in the North Sea off Teesside in 2002.

He reappeared last year claiming he had lost his memory.

But the couple were undone by a photograph of them taken in Panama four years after Mr Darwin disappeared.

Justice Wilkie, said their sons, who gave evidence for the prosecution against their mother, had been left "crushed" by the deception.