'Mrs Canoe' offers to repay £600,000
Wednesday, 11, Nov 2009 04:46
By Richard James.
The wife of a man who faked his own death in a canoeing accident has offered to repay £600,000 she made in the scam.
Anne Darwin, 57, was jailed for six-and-a-half years last year after she was found guilty of six counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering.
Her husband, John Darwin, 58, was also jailed for six years and three months after admitting seven charges of deception.
The couple were found guilty of conning insurance companies after staging Mr Darwin's death in a canoeing accident.
It emerged today Mrs Darwin has now agreed to pay £363,700.01 worth of compensation to the victims of their crime and £228,138.24 under the terms of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Mr Darwin also agreed to pay a nominal sum of £1 due to his lack of financial assets.
The Darwins, from, Seaton Carew, Teesside, staged their elaborate scam in March 2002 when they faked Mr Darwin's death in the North Sea.
The couple then created a new life for themselves in Panama without even telling their own two sons.
In November 2007, however, Mr Darwin walked into a UK police station claiming to be suffering from amnesia.
The scam collapsed though when a photo of the couple in Panama appeared online.