Canoeist wife can appeal sentence

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/tees/7851205.stm

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Anne Darwin, the wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John, has been granted leave to appeal against her sentence for fraud and money laundering.

But the 56-year-old, who was found guilty of 15 charges at Teesside Crown Court in 2008, was refused permission to appeal against her conviction.

Mrs Darwin helped her husband fake his death to claim £250,000 insurance.

She was jailed for six-and-a-half years while her husband, 57, who admitted deception, was sentenced to six years.

Sons conned

Mr Darwin vanished while canoeing in the sea off Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, in 2002.

He reappeared at a London police station in December 2007 claiming he had lost his memory.

But he and his wife were later convicted of a bizarre fraud, in which they conned sons Mark and Anthony, friends, police and insurance companies into believing Darwin had drowned.

In October, the Court of Appeal ruled against granting her leave of absence from prison to fight the conviction.

Court papers are being prepared for the appeal hearing against the length of her sentence, for which no date has been set.