The 'canoe man' scandal of two decades ago is now firmly in the public arena once again thanks to drama The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe, which has become a huge talk point amongst scores of viewers.
The four part ITV series, which kicked off on Easter Sunday, is dominating the channel's prime time schedule this week, airing over consecutive nights at 9pm and has sent social media on fire, over the real life events it's based on and the accents adopted by its cast, led by Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan as John Darwin and wife Anne. After finding themselves in crippling debt, with John on the verge of bankruptcy, the couple embarked on a 'fake death,' scam, where John staged his own 'disappearance,' having gone out to sea close their home in Seaton Carew in a kayak.
As a large scale search mission was launched to find him, John camped out in the wild, before going through with his ludicrous suggestion of hiding out in a bedsit right nest door to his and Anne's home. After lying low for a few years, John headed to Panama, with Anne later joining him as the couple searched for property. It was claimed that the huge spanner in their works of their escape to Panama was the fact that to be a citizen they needed their identities verified from their local police force back home. And, with Cleveland Police believing John was dead and him using the fake alias 'John Jones,' that was a complete no-go. However, in an interview after his release from prison, John said it was always his intention to return home.
READ MORE: What happened to 'canoe man' John Darwin after prison stretch
John made the decision to return home and walk into a London police station claiming he had amnesia and didn't know where he'd been for the last five years. However, after an investigation was launched, John and Anne were caught by a photo of them posting in a Panama property office. Having even lied to their own sons, who believed John was dead, the couple were found out and forced to face up to their crimes.
John was charged with obtaining life insurance money by deception and making untrue statements to obtain a passport, with Anne arrested at Manchester Airport after she returned to the UK and detained in connection with the allegations of fraud. She appeared in court in Hartlepool the following week to face two charges of fraud—obtaining £25,000 and £137,000 by deception. Days later, Anne and John appeared separately before Hartlepool Magistrates' Court and they both were remanded in custody to appear again in January 2008.
On their return to court, John faced an additional charge of obtaining £137,000 by deception, in addition to the existing life insurance charge against both of them for £25,000 and John's separate charge of obtaining a passport by deception. They were then both charged together for obtaining more money from a teachers' pension scheme as well as for obtaining money from the Department for Work and Pensions. The money John and Anne Darwin obtained by deception, totalled over £250,300.
How long were John and Anne Darwin in prison?
In March of that year, John admitted seven charges of obtaining cash by deception and a passport offence, while Anne denied the six charges of deception and nine of using criminal property against her. In July 2008, John was sentenced to six years and three months, while Anne received a longer sentence of six years and a half years.
John Darwin was released on probation in January 2011, with Anne released two months later, having served two years and eight months of her sentence. During their time in prison, Anne made it clear to John that she wanted to separate, a decision he was said to have been let furious by. After they were released the couple got divorced with John citing Anne's 'unreasonable behaviour,' as the reason.
John is now living in the Philippines with his new wife, 23 years his junior, while Anne is believed to be living in a village not far from Middlesbrough.
