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CANOE couple John and Anne Darwin exchanged intimate emails while they were on different sides of the Atlantic, the court heard yesterday.

The jury was told that one of the messages was sent by Mrs Darwin as her husband headed back to the UK to hand himself in to police.

Mr Darwin walked into a London police station five-and-a-half years after he vanished and told officers: "I think I'm a missing person."

He was then reunited with his stunned sons and after giving a statement was allowed to leave to go and stay with them in Hampshire.

After leaving his wife in Panama, he was sent an email which said: "Hope you have a good flight and everything is OK with the family.

"Did you manage to write the last chapter for your book on the way there? Love you. Missing you already xxxxxx."

It is still not known why Mr Darwin returned to the UK after living throughout his "missing years" under an assumed name.

But the jury has heard that he claimed he had been missing his sons, Mark and Anthony, and wanted to sort out muddled finances.

The in-debt Darwins had claimed more than £250,000 in insurance and pension pay-outs after they convinced the authorities he had died.

Mr Darwin took the name John Jones within weeks of his disappearance in March 2002 and was able to travel widely after obtaining a passport.

Some of the trips were with his wife - such as a visit to Cyprus in 2004 to look at land on which to build a home - and some were alone.

Mr Darwin had also travelled to the US and Central America while his wife stayed at home in Seaton Carew and continued working.

By last October, Mrs Darwin had finalised the sales of their two sea-front properties and was planning to emigrate to Panama to join her husband.

Shortly before her departure, Mr Darwin sent an email which suggested she travel to the south of England to see their sons before she left.

In other messages, he talked about the banks near the apartment they had bought in Panama City, and financial matters such as exchange rates.

One email, sent in August, reads: "You have a local bank but the buggers don't put the interest rates on the web."

It adds: "I love you lots . .. . PS get your bum over here fast. I have got something for you and it's hot."

A message from Mrs Darwin to her husband on October 6 last year - days before she flew out - tells him: "Not long to go now. I miss you so much."

The jury was told that the correspondence was retrieved from Mr Darwin's email account by police computer experts just last week.

A statement from Detective Constable Michael Foster revealed he found 1,112 messages in the "in-box" of the account - 923 of which were un-read.

Detective Constable Foster, of the Cleveland Police economic crime unit, said he was not authorised to access the un-opened messages, and did not.

The other 189 emails were split into the categories on the computer, including emigrate, horse, house prices, information, Panama and Anne.

Some of Mrs Darwin's messages to her husband told him not to call or go on-line to chat at certain times when she would have visitors.

10:11am Thursday 17th July 2008

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