Canoe wife 'maintained deception'

The wife of canoeist John Darwin continued to lie to her family even after her supposedly dead husband reappeared, a court has heard.

Anne Darwin pretended to be overcome with emotion when told the former prison officer was still alive, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The 56-year-old denies five counts of obtaining money by deception and one of obtaining property by deception.

Mr Darwin has admitted deception and will be sentenced later.

The court has heard the Darwins' sons, Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29, were kept completely in the dark by their parents' deception.

Prosecutor Andrew Robertson QC told the jury that when John Darwin walked into a London police station in December last year, claiming to be suffering from amnesia, Mrs Darwin was living in Panama with assets of £500,000.

"Of course, news of their father's return from the dead was immediately passed on to Mark and Anthony," he said.

"Needless to say, they were absolutely stunned. They contacted their mother and - this says everything, say the Crown - on receipt of this news that her husband was still alive she pretended to be overcome with emotion, putting up a pretence that John Darwin - her long-lost husband - had returned from the dead.

"In our submission, this was a woman who even at this stage, when the writing's on the wall, had the strength of character to keep to the original story."

Mr Darwin walked into a police station five years after being presumed dead when his canoe was found in the sea close to his home at Seaton Carew in 2002.

A huge air-sea search failed to find any trace of his body, and he was later pronounced dead.

The trial continues.