Canoe fraudster John Darwin now living totally different life after faking own death

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Canoe fraudster John Darwin is now living a totally different life after faking his own death in 2002. Now living thousands of miles away from the crime scene, John, 71, conspired with his ex-wife Anne Darwin to apply for £250,000 from his life insurance policy after pretending he was dead.

John faked his death by paddling out to sea from Seaton Carew beach in County Durham and for five years, the couple, who had been in debt, managed to deceive people until John 'rose from the dead' and a photograph led to his downfall.John, who is now divorced form Anne, lives in the Philippines with his younger wife Mercy - and still gets a UK state pension.Former teacher and prison officer John calculated he could get himself out of debt by paddling out to sea near Hartlepool and disappearing in March 2002.His 'canoeing accident' was reported by then wife Anne and sparked a huge search and even their two sons thought their dad was dead.John has said his plan almost went fatally wrong when he was swept out to sea for real as he 'faked it'.The Mirror has seen his unpublished memoir where he wrote: "I started to paddle again, heading towards the pier which I had spotted a few minutes earlier. "It then struck me that I couldn’t see the South Gare [breakwater at the mouth of the River Tees]."I’d actually paddled out much, much further than I intended.

To my total horror, I realised I could have been swept away and died. I had nearly done it without meaning to."Anne took the £250,000 in life insurance payouts, and John hid in a bedsit belonging to them next door to the family home, with a secret door to Anne's bedroom.John decided to have a bushy beard which allowed him to go into town unnoticed.They then bought a £200,000 tropical