'Missing' canoeist due in court

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A 57-year-old man who turned up alive five years after being presumed dead in a canoeing accident is due in court.

John Darwin is due before Hartlepool magistrates accused of obtaining life insurance cash by deception and making an untrue statement to get a passport.

It comes as police prepare to question Mr Darwin's wife, Anne, 55, who was arrested on suspicion of fraud after returning to the UK on Sunday.

She recently moved to Panama after selling the couple's Teesside home.

Mrs Darwin, who was arrested at Manchester Airport, was taken to Hartlepool police station, where she was to undergo a medical examination before being questioned by detectives.

Her detention followed the arrest of Mr Darwin, 57, at his son's house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on Tuesday on suspicion of fraud.

Presumed dead

It had been thought the former prison officer had died at sea after the remains of his canoe were found on a beach in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, Teesside, in March 2002.

But he turned up at a north London police station last weekend, claiming he could not remember what had happened to him.

Police said an application would be made to keep him in custody.

Police were waiting to arrest Anne Darwin at Manchester Airport.

After Mr Darwin turned up in London it emerged Mrs Darwin had recently moved to Panama, having sold the family home in Seaton Carew.

A photograph then surfaced showing her alongside her husband in Panama last year. It has yet to be independently verified.

Detectives had issued appeals for Mrs Darwin to get in touch with them.

Now they will be able to question her about details of interviews she has given to newspaper journalists.

Speaking before Mrs Darwin's return to Britain, Det Sgt Iain Henderson of Cleveland Police said he could not say whether further charges would be brought in the case.

He was also unable to say whether the investigation would be extended to include other members of the Darwin family.

The couple's sons, Anthony and Mark, previously released a statement saying they had been through a "rollercoaster of emotions" after finding out their father was alive.