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ITN
Back-from-the-dead case: wife on trial
Back-from-the-dead case: wife on trial
The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin played her role in a £250,000 fraud with "superb aplomb", a court has heard.Anne Darwin, 56, convinced insurance companies, a coroner and, "more poignantly", her sons that he had died in a canoe accident, Teesside Crown Court heard.She denies six counts of deception and nine of money laundering which related to her alleged activity following John Darwin's disappearance in March 2002 from the sea by their home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.Andrew Robertson QC, prosecuting, told the jury: "They were at risk of being made bankrupt - the shame and embarrassment of which neither of them wished to face. Out of this dire financial situation, seeds of this fraud were born."The initial idea may well have been John Darwin's rather than Anne's but, in the Crown's submission, it was a scheme in which Anne Darwin not only played an equal and vital role but it was a role which she played with superb aplomb."Mr Robertson said the plan to stage Mr Darwin's death then claim insurance and pension money was simple."It was obviously going to require a considerable amount of guile, convincing pretence, persistence and guts on the part of Anne Darwin to see it through," the barrister said."Her role was a positive one. John Darwin, after supposedly disappearing, had simply to keep his head down so the falsity of his disappearance would not be rumbled by anybody."She had to take all the positive steps."But if she kept her nerve, which she coolly did, the rewards were going to be considerable, which they were - sufficient not only to discharge the debts, but to finance a potentially idyllic life abroad and together."John Darwin, 57, will be sentenced later after admitting seven charges of deception and one charge of making false statements to procure a passport.He also pleaded not guilty to nine counts of converting criminal property, which will be left to lie on file.
ITN | July 14, 2008
