Jail Time for Canoe Man and His Wife

  • Share
  • Read Later
Left: Scott Heppell / AP; Andrew Yates / AFP / Getty

Left: John Darwin, 57, the back-from-the-dead canoeist, leaves the Magistrate's Court in Hartlepool, England. Anne Darwin leaves Manchester Airport in custody, December 9, 2007.

They always planned to be together in the end. But today John Darwin — the North Sea kayaker who faked his own death only to resurface five years later claiming amnesia — and his wife Anne Darwin were reunited not in some romantic, wind-swept port, but in an English courthouse.

Standing before a judge at Teesside Crown Court in northeastern England, Darwin, 57, was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison for his role in the fraud. His wife Anne, 56, was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months after being convicted of both fraud and money laundering after collecting $500,000 in the wake of her husband's disappearance.

Darwin and his wife's deception unraveled in December last year when Darwin walked into a central London police station and told officers, "I think I am a missing person." His wife said she was in "total shock" at his return. But it quickly became clear that the couple had staged Darwin's death, hiding him in the couple's house until he obtained a fraudulent passport and took refuge in Panama. In 2003, Anne collected compensation for his death in an effort to erase debts the couple accrued through their lavish lifestyle, all the while maintaining the illusion of Darwin's death even to their two sons.

The sentences were significantly tougher than many criminal justice experts had expected. The judge emphasized the emotional distress caused to the family: "Although the sums involved are not as high as some reported cases, the duration of the offending, its multi-faceted nature and in particular the grief inflicted over the years to those who, in truth, were the real victims, your own sons, whose lives you crushed, make this a case which merits a particularly severe sentence."

Ironically, the Darwins would likely have gotten away with their crime had John Darwin's mysterious reappearance not captured the British public's attention. In the tabloid frenzy following his appearance, the Daily Mirror newspaper unearthed a picture of Darwin with his wife in Panama, casting doubt on Anne's tearful incredulousness at his return and prompting the police to act.

Speaking outside the courthouse today, Detective Inspector Andy Greenwood of Cleveland Police, the investigating police force, said: "[The Mirror] photograph prompted the arrest. We knew it was being published and if John Darwin had seen the photo, he could have got on a plane back to Panama, and as there are no [extradition] treaties between Britain and Panama it might have been difficult to get him back."

During her trial, Anne Darwin had entered an unusual defense of marital coercion, saying her husband forced her to go along with the plot. But her claims of bullying and marital despair were undermined when the jury was shown loving and sometimes flirtatious emails sent between the pair.

Inspector Greenwood called Anne "despicable" and said that "asset recovery teams" will now work to recover the money from the scam. He also said that he expects further revelations about the case to follow in the British papers, which have been restrained by strict laws governing the reporting of criminal trials.

Whatever further plot twist or sordid detail comes to light, it is clear that this couple's fantasy of a fresh start and blissful life abroad has been shattered by their own deceit. At a previous hearing, as they stood together in the dock, Darwin had reached out and tried to squeeze his wife's hand. She pulled away.