UNITED KINGDOM / PANAMA: British man who was presumed drowned five years ago in a canoeing accident has been arrested on suspicion of fraud after walking into a police station at the weekend

British detectives said on Wednesday (December 5) they had arrested a man who reappeared more than five years after he was presumed drowned in a canoeing accident. John Darwin was held on suspicion of fraud four days after he walked into a London police station and told officers he believed they might be looking for him. Darwin, 57, vanished in March 2002 from his home in northeast England. Since re-appearing, tanned and in good health, his family have said he has no memory of events since 2000. His wife, Anne, 55, left the country for central America with 450,000 pounds shortly before his return after selling her home. In an interview with a newspaper from her new home in Panama published on Wednesday, she admitted she had cashed in her husband's life insurance policies but said she had done so because she believed he was dead. But another newspaper printed a picture of the Darwins posing together with a date suggesting it had been taken in Panama last year. The mystery began in March 2002 when Darwin's wife reported him missing, saying it was feared he had suffered an accident while kayaking in the North Sea near their home in Hartlepool, Cleveland. Hutchinson said the sea had been calm the day he disappeared and despite extensive searches involving aircraft, lifeboats and a Royal Navy ship, no trace was found of him. A few weeks later the shattered remains of his red kayak was discovered and, following a police inquiry, in 2003 a coroner declared him dead. Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson told a news conference the coroner would no doubt be as surprised by his reappearance as everyone else. Hutchinson said officers had received a tip-off three months ago that indicated there might be "something suspicious" regarding the disappearance of Darwin, a former prison officer, and had launched inquiries. The case had raised a lot of quesions and created a lot of media interest, he said. He believes there will be people who know exactly where Darwin has been, where he's been living, and what he's been doing over the last five and a half years and wants them to get in touch, whether in the U.K. or abroad. He said officers would like to speak to Darwin's wife but there were not immediate plans to ask for her extradition. Darwin has been staying at one of his two son's homes in Basingstoke since the weekend. On Tuesday Anthony and Mark Darwin told of their delight and shock after their father resurfaced alive and well, but with no memory of events since June 2000.

ITN Source | December 5, 2007

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