Canoe wife goes to jail - for longer than her 'dead' husband

The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin was jailed this afternoon for six and a half years - three months more than her husband.

Mr Justice Wilkie punished Anne Darwin, 56, with a longer sentence because she claimed throughout the trial that she had been innocent of the £250,000 swindle in which the couple staged John's death in a canoe accident.

The jury at Teesside crown court had earlier convicted her of 15 charges of deception and money laundering.

They rejected her claims that she had been the victim of "marital coercion" and been cowed into acting against her will by her bullying husband. For the plan to succeed she had to convince their devastated sons that their father had died. John Darwin, 57, had entered a guilty plea at an earlier hearing and was brought to court this afternoon to hear his fate.

The couple, who had dreamed of starting a new life in Panama with the money, stood with their hands clasped in front of them, separated by a security guard, as the sentences were handed down.

They avoided eye contact with each other as they stood in the dock as Mr Justice Wilkie told them "I accept you, John, were the driving force behind this deceit. You, Anne Darwin, perhaps initially unconvinced, played an instrumental rather than organising role. Nevertheless, you contributed to its success and played your part efficiently. In my judgment, you operated as a team, each contributing to the joint venture."

Anne, a doctor's receptionist, and John, a former science teacher and prison guard turned property speculator, pretended he had died in a canoe accident in March 2002.

While John lay low with a false identity, his wife rang the police to report her husband's red canoe missing off the coast near their home in Seaton Carew near Hartlepool.

Wreckage of his canoe on a beach was used as evidence that Mr Darwin died at sea, which allowed Mrs Darwin to apply for an inquest to be held.

In April 2003 the Hartlepool coroner recorded an open verdict and the Register General of Shipping and Seamen issued a death certificate, which stated he "probably" died while in a canoe in the sea near Hartlepool.

The Association of British Insurers said today this was all the proof she needed to cash in his life insurance.

She claimed her husband's £25,000 life insurance policy, his £25,000 teacher's pension, his £58,000 prison service pension, £4,000 in payouts from the Department of Work and Pensions, and a £137,000 Norwich Union mortgage insurance policy.

Throughout her trial, Anne denied that she had benefited from the fraud. But photographs obtained by Sky News show her picking up a £13,500 car last October in Panama bought from the proceeds of the crime.

After staging his death, John eventually returned to their home town and lived secretly in one of the bedsits the couple owned next door to the family home. He got a passport in the name of John Jones and they planned to settle in Panama. Last year they bought land there to set up an eco-tourism and canoeing holiday centre.

But in November he suddenly flew back to the UK and walked into a London police station claiming he had amnesia. He told officers he believed he was a missing person. Their scheme fell apart after a photograph emerged of the Darwins grinning in a Panama estate agents' office. It was taken in 2006 - sinking Mrs Darwin's claims to be shocked that her husband had suddenly come back from the dead.

He pleaded guilty to fraud and dishonestly obtaining a passport but his wife proclaimed her innocence. Defence barrister David Waters, QC, painted a picture for the jury of a domineering husband intimidating his wife during their 30-year marriage to the point where she could not resist him.

But Andrew Robertson, QC, prosecuting, poured scorn on her story, showing how she had repeatedly lied to make the facts fit her defence. The judge told the jury in his summing up that Anne could only be cleared if she had proved that he had been present at each stage of the plot and she had been "overborne" by him. The jury would have had to be sure that the "last act" of each offence - such as posting a letter or completing an internet banking transaction - had been done in the presence of her husband.

A series of emails and voicemail messages revealed the extent of Anne's involvement and that they were "equal partners" in the plot.

The emails showed that the " masterplan" was for John to return to his original identity in order to obtain a visa for Panama. They had hoped that the police would believe he had lost his memory and, after gathering the necessary documents, they could be reunited in Central America.

Detective Inspector Andy Greenwood who led the investigation said: "Anne Darwin has been a compulsive liar throughout this inquiry. I am just pleased that the truth has come out."

Police are now set to deploy asset recovery officers to seize any proceeds of the fraud.