Wife of 'dead' canoeist "persisted with lie"
John Darwin turned up five years after he was declared dead
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Tuesday, 15, Jul 2008 07:49
The wife of John Darwin, the man who pretended to be dead for five years, continued to lie to her family even after he reappeared, a court has heard.
Teesside crown court heard today how Anne Darwin pretended to be overcome with emotion when she was told her husband was still alive.
The 56-year-old is currently on trial charged with five counts of obtaining money by deception and one count of obtaining property by deception.
Prosecutor Andrew Robertson told the jury that when Mr Darwin walked into a police station claiming to be suffering from amnesia last year, his wife was living in Panama with assets totalling £500,000.
The court has heard how the couple's sons Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29, were kept totally in the dark about their parents' plans.
The pair appeared in court today, with Mark appearing as a prosecution witnesses. When asked how he felt on hearing his father had drowned in a canoeing accident, he said it had "crushed his world".
Upon seeing the infamous photo of his parents with an estate agent in Panama in 2004, the 32-year-old said he "couldn't believe" he'd been lied to by his mother for so long.
Mr Robertson said in court today that Mrs Darwin had been forced to change her story when the picture was published in a national newspaper.
"Because of the photograph, she said that after she began honestly making these claims he had suddenly turned up out of the blue on her doorstep in February 2003," he said.
"Members of the jury, this was a lie she persisted in throughout seven interviews with Cleveland police in December last year lasting four-and-a-half hours.
"She was able to stick to that story. This is the woman who would have you believe her will was overborne."
Mr Darwin handed himself into a police station last year, five years after he was declared dead after his canoe was found near his home in Seaton Carew in 2002.
The trial continues.