Wife accused over 'back from the dead' canoeist

"The wife of a "back-from-the-dead" man who resurfaced five years after vanishing in an apparent canoe accident convinced everyone he was dead, including her own children, a court heard Monday.

Anne Darwin faces fraud charges involving nearly 250,000 pounds over the alleged scam, which came to light after her husband John walked into a police station claiming to have lost his memory.

"She put on a great act... she kept up the facade that she was genuinely grieving for the death of her husband," said prosecutor Andrew Robertson at the start of the trial at Teesside Crown Court in northeast England.

"Anne Darwin clearly thought nothing of lying to her sons... and convincing them that their own father was lost at sea and dead in order to see this fraud through to its conclusion," he added.

Darwin was presumed dead after disappearing while canoeing in the sea in March 2002 near his home in Seaton Carew, northeastern England.

But he reappeared on December 1 last year when he walked into a London police station, telling officers he could remember nothing of the last five years, and believed himself to be a missing person.

His wife was tracked down to Panama City and initially claimed shock at his reappearance, before being confronted with a photograph of the couple from last year which had emerged."

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I guess this begs the question -- What would you do in "dire financial straits?"