'Dead' Briton to stay in jail

2007-12-14 18:21

London - A British man who re-appeared five years after being presumed dead in a canoeing accident, and his wife were remanded in custody on Friday pending trials for fraud.

John Darwin, 57, and his wife Anne, 55, appeared separately before magistrates in Hartlepool, northeast England, and were told they will continue to be kept in different jails until their next court appearances on January 11.

Darwin, sporting a new cropped haircut, spoke only to confirm his name and age during the video-link appearance from Durham Prison.

The former teacher and prison officer is charged with making an untrue statement to obtain a passport and obtaining a money transfer by deception in relation to a £25 000 life insurance policy.

His wife, who also gave just her name and age by video-link from Low Newton Prison in County Durham, is accused of dishonestly obtaining £25 000 and £137 000 in 2003, a year after her husband's apparent death.

Lawyers for the couple made no applications for bail. The pair have not yet entered pleas.

The Darwins' story has generated interest worldwide since he walked into a London police station on December 1 and said he thought he was a missing person and had amnesia.

He was officially declared dead in 2003 after he disappeared in March 2002 and his wrecked canoe was found washed up on the coast.

His wife initially claimed she was in shock that her husband was alive, but later admitted to reporters he had been secretly living with her.

She was arrested on Sunday after returning to Britain from Panama, where she moved two months ago after selling the couple's home near Hartlepool.

The Darwins' sons Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29, have released a statement saying they had been betrayed by their parents and wanted no more contact with them.

"How could our mam continue to let us believe our dad had died when he was very much alive?" they said.

Police this week released a photograph of a long-haired, bearded Darwin which he allegedly used to obtain a passport in the name of John Jones.

- AFP