Canoe wife lied to sons - court told

10:07am Tuesday 15th July 2008

Canoe wife Anne Darwin deceived the police, the courts and her family with her grieving widow act.

NEIL HUNTER reports on how the couple's devastated sons were lied to for five-and-a-half years.

ANNE Darwin threw her arms around her eldest son Mark, sobbed uncontrollably and cried: "I think I've lost him. He's gone."

Mark had travelled to the North-East from Basingstoke after hearing his father was missing - presumed dead - while canoeing.

His younger brother, Anthony, cut short a holiday in Canada to fly back to the UK and comfort his mother in her time of need.

Just hours earlier, she had picked up her husband from a pre-arranged spot along the coast and driven him away from the area.

Prison officer John Darwin lay low for a short time, but returned to Seaton Carew when his sons had gone back home.

He completely changed his appearance, and was able to vanish into their adjoining property if the need arose.

But while Mr Darwin was having to lie low, his wife had to be the public face of their £250,000 fraud, her trial heard yesterday.

She tricked seasoned police officers into believing their story, and was able to persuade the coroner to hold an inquest and issue a death certificate.

Andrew Robertson, QC, prosecuting, said the death certificate was the key to the plot because it triggered the pension and insurance pay-outs.

While Mrs Darwin was said to be completing forms and chasing money, her husband was assuming a new identity - John Jones.

Within a month of his disappearance, he was visiting a local library and borrowing books in his new assumed name.

Mr Robertson said Mrs Darwin's "convincing performances" in front of officials and friends "pales into insignificance" compared to how she treated her sons.

"Some of you may have lost close ones and be aware of the deep grief associated with such a loss," Mr Robertson told the jury.

"It is our submission Anne Darwin clearly thought nothing of lying to her sons, and convincing them that their own father was lost at sea and dead."

Mr Robertson added: "She appeared devastated - crying and sobbing uncontrollably.

"According to Mark, his own world had fallen apart. He felt he had not just lost a father, but his best friend. Anthony's reaction was the same.

"In the Crown's submission, Anne Darwin must have been aware of the deep distress she was causing her own children yet she was steadfast - in the complete absence of her husband - and stuck to the façade so the fraud could be seen through to its completion."

The jury heard that a family liaison officer was appointed to look after Mrs Darwin after the disappearance and he was "completely taken in".

Five months after the apparent drowning, a body was found off the coast of Hartlepool and the officer told Mrs Darwin of the discovery.

He had what he thought was the unenviable task of asking her to identify the corpse, but it was discovered it was somebody else before he made the request.

The jury was told Mrs Darwin burst into tears and said that she "wanted the body to be John's so that he could be laid to rest and, so that she could move on".

After the death certificate was issued, Mrs Darwin is alleged to have begun cashing in the policies - one of which was taken out just three months before the disappearance.

She sat and listened in court yesterday as a tape-recording of a conversation with a member of staff from one insurance company was played to the jury.

During the query, Mrs Darwin sounds upset and complains that that the date of her husband's apparent death is three days out and that he is referred to as John Reginald Darwin rather than John Ronald Darwin in the correspondence.

"You make of it what you will," Mr Robertson told the jury: "But we submit it is very helpful for you to hear her tone of voice because you will perceive from it that she is playing very well the distressed, bereaved widow."

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