Police file charges against wife in insurance scam

By ROB HARRIS

Associated Press

MIDDLESBROUGH, England (AP) — Police filed charges Monday against the wife of a former British prison officer accused of faking his own death in an insurance scam, alleging she illegally obtained some $330,000 after he was officially declared dead.

Anne Darwin, 55, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday on two charges of using deception in 2003 to obtain separate money transfers of 25,000 pounds and 137,000 pounds. Police said they would seek to keep her in custody.

Authorities gave no further explanation of the charges, but some details came out earlier in the day when her husband, John Darwin, 57, appeared in court.

He did not enter a plea on the two charges he faces: dishonestly obtaining an insurance claim of 25,000 pounds in May 2003 — about $50,000 at today's exchange rates — by falsely claiming he had been killed and obtaining a passport under a false name in October 2003.

At a news conference, police urged the public to help detectives piece together Darwin's whereabouts for the past five years.

They released a black-and-white photograph — showing the man with long hair and a bushy beard — that he used to get a passport in 2003 under an assumed name, ``John Jones,'' Deputy Superintendent Tony Hutchinson of Cleveland police said.

Hutchinson asked anyone in Britain, Europe or North and Central America who recognize the man from the photo to contact police.

Darwin, who had disappeared from his home in Hartlepool in northeast England and was presumed dead after his wrecked canoe was found in 2002, turned up at a London police station Dec. 1 claiming he had amnesia.

In court on Monday, he was ordered held until his next court appearance by video link Friday.

Dressed in a maroon sweat shirt and red sweat pants, Darwin appeared disheveled and confused. He spoke twice during the four-minute hearing, responding ``That's correct'' when the court read him his full name and saying his date of birth.

His lawyer, John Nixon, told reporters that his client was in good shape and holding up.

``He is desperate to see his wife, to be reunited with her,'' Nixon said. ``He is anxious to know about her well-being. It is their wedding anniversary in 10 days. They are going to spend their wedding day apart.''

Anne Darwin was arrested Sunday on suspicion of fraud moments after arriving on a flight from Atlanta. She had been living in Panama in recent months.

She was charged after detectives questioned her about how her husband allegedly hid himself for five years, whether the couple maintained contact after his reported death, and how they apparently came to be photographed together recently in Panama.

Hutchinson said police were stunned when Darwin came back from the dead.

``We weren't following him,'' he said at a news conference. ``Three months ago, there was some financial transactions we were having a look at, but I must stress that the day John Darwin actually walked into the police station, we had no idea whatsoever that he was alive.''

According to British news reports, the couple had tens of thousands of dollars in debt when he disappeared.

``To John and Anne Darwin, we are talking about a huge amount of money,'' Hutchinson said of the alleged insurance scam. ``Whilst they may have taken some risks, they have been fairly successful for five years.''

Hutchinson criticized the couple for hiding their alleged crime from their two sons, who believed their father was dead.

``There is nothing to suggest the two sons were anything but victims. Quite clearly they have been duped in what one can only describe as a despicable fashion,'' he said. ``Our hearts go out to them.''

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