Canoeist's two sons are 'victims'

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Detectives who interviewed the sons of "missing" canoeist John Darwin have concluded they are innocent "victims".

Cleveland Police have spoken to Mark and Anthony Darwin about their father's disappearance in an apparent canoeing accident near Hartlepool in 2002.

Mr Darwin, 57 and his wife Anne, 55, are in custody charged with dishonestly obtaining insurance money.

Their sons have insisted they had no idea their father, who reappeared on 1 December, was still alive.

Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29, had released a statement saying they wanted no more contact with their parents.

Presumed dead

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "Both sons of John and Anne Darwin, Mark and Anthony, were interviewed on Saturday as witnesses to the inquiry.

"The result of these lengthy interviews was that there was nothing to suggest they are anything other than witnesses and, of course, victims in the case."

Mr Darwin walked into a London police station on 1 December after being presumed dead for more than five years.

He disappeared after leaving his home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, Teesside and was thought to have drowned.

Mr Darwin is charged with dishonestly obtaining £25,000 in life insurance and making an untrue statement to procure a passport.

Mrs Darwin is also accused of dishonestly obtaining £25,000 and another £137,000 from a policy which settled her mortgage in the event of her husband's death.

Both have been remanded in custody until 11 January.