Je, mafisadi wa CCM wameamua kutucheza kama John Darwin?
The TimesDecember 4, 2007
The 'dead' canoeist John Darwin, his wife and the Panama connection
Five years after the drowning tragedy, missing man wanders into a London police station
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Andrew Norfolk, Rajeev Syal and Murad Ahmed
The wife of a man who disappeared in an apparent canoeing tragedy five years ago had moved to Panama and opened a new bank account only weeks before he walked into a police station to declare that he was still alive, it emerged last night.
Anne Darwin, 55, is understood to have emigrated to Panama City soon after the sale of two properties that she once jointly owned with her husband, John Darwin, who had formally been declared dead by a coroner.
Yesterday Mr Darwin, 57, a former teacher and prison officer, was preparing to be interviewed by detectives who want to know how he has survived in anonymity before he strolled into West End Central police station in Savile Row, Central London, last weekend. Police officers said he had no memory of what had happened.
The mystery of his wherabouts has baffled friends of the couple, who had belived that he had drowned off the Cleveland coast half a mile from his home in March 2002.
Bill Rodriguez, a former neighbour, said that when he last saw Mrs Darwin in August, she told him that she had just returned from a six-week holiday in Panama. She said she loved it out there and was going to move out full-time, he said.
A former neighbour said that Mrs Darwins departure six to eight weeks ago, had been extremely sudden.
She left the house full of furniture. She left everything. It took them 15 skips to get the rubbish out, she said.
The Times understands that Mrs Darwin has hundreds of thousands of pounds in a Panamanian bank account, and had sent some of her furniture to the Central American state.
The bizarre story began on March 21 five years ago when Mr Darwin took his red canoe out to sea.
The couple had moved to a seafront house two years earlier with their dogs. Their sons, Mark and Anthony, had moved away and the couple told neighbours that they hoped to retire there.
The North Sea was said to be unusually calm that spring day. Mr Darwin was reported missing when he did not return home. Hours later his damaged boat was washed up on the sandy beach. A member of the emergency services who launched a fruitless 14-hour seach for Mr Darwin after his disappearance said last night that sea conditions had been as smooth as a millpond. Tom Waller, 60, a member of Hartlepool Coastwatch, said that rescuers had been puzzled that the prison officer could have got into trouble in such conditions.
An extensive search operation was mounted along the coastline from Hartlepool to Staithes, North Yorkshire. No sign of Mr Darwin was ever found.
Six months after his disappearance, Mrs Darwin, a doctors receptionist, told a local newspaper that she could not move on without seeing her husbands body. She said: People die, have a funeral, they have a headstone, there is something to mark the fact they existed on this Earth. But without a body, I dont know how we can mark Johns life.
All I want is to bury his body. It would enable me to move on. Its difficult to grieve without bringing things to a close, but as it is Im in limbo and theres nothing I can do.
An inquest was eventually held in April 2003, 13 months after his disappearance, and the Hartlepool Coroner recorded an open verdict.
The couple paid £170,000 in December 2000 for two adjoining properties on Seaton Carew seafront. Robert Meggs, the former owner, said the Darwins planned to live in one house while earning a £2,000 monthly rental income from the second, which was divided into 15 bedsits.
They had been living near Durham but they used to come to Seaton regularly to walk their two rottweilers on the beach, he said. Mr Darwin also told me that he was a keen canoeist. When they saw these adjoining homes for sale they thought it was their dream house.
Mr Meggs said that the couple owned a black Range Rover with a personalised number plate. Mrs Darwin had been very striking and appeared to be the dominant partner in the relationship, he said. Her husband had told him that he had a heart condition.
On the day that they moved in, Mr Meggs said he had been puzzled when Mrs Darwin confided in him: If this doesnt work out, well lose everything.
Documents from the Land Registry show that Mrs Darwin transferred both of their properties to her son, Mark, in June 2006.
She continued to live in one of the houses, but one was sold in October 2007 for £295,000 while the other fetched £160,000 in March.
Yesterday afternoon two police officers called at one of the couples properties to take away mail. The male and female uniformed officers spoke to John Duffield, 36, for about ten minutes. When he and his partner moved in, furniture had been left including wardrobes and settees. There were few personal items, he said, though we did find Teach Yourself Spanish books in her study, he said.
Mr Darwin studied at the St Francis Xavier College in Liverpool. He wrote on the Friends Reunited website in January 2002, just weeks before his disappearance: After leaving St Francis went to De La Salle College, Manchester, where I did biology and chemistry. Taught in Derwentside for 18 years before leaving teaching to join Barclays Bank. At present work for Prison Service and have portfolio of properties.
Married to a convent girl Anne Stephenson, we have two grown-up sons and two dogs. Recently moved to Seaton Carew where I hope to retire soon.
This weekend, Mr Darwin reappeared at the Central London police station, looking tanned, refreshed and healthy. Inspector Helen Eustace, of Cleveland Police, said yesterday: The guy cant remember anything about whats happened or why hes come forward. He has no memory at all. He has obviously been somewhere for the last five years and a lot of questions need answering.
He is believed to be staying with relatives in the South of England.
This weekend some of his relatives expressed relief that he had reappeared. His brother, David, speaking from his home in Barnet, North London, said: All the family is so relieved that John is alive.
Mr Darwins 90-year-old father, Ronald, of Blackhall Colliery, Co Durham, told a newspaper: I always said to the police that there might be more to this than it appeared at first. When his canoe was found but he wasnt, it didnt seem right.
Mr Darwin said that when his son was 4 or 5 he was knocked down by a car and suffered a head injury, which could have caused amnesia later in his life.
Now hes got his memory back, Mr Darwin said. When I speak to him, I will ask him where he has been these last few years and Ill ask, Why didnt you make arrangements to see me before now?.
One relative was less supportive. Mr Darwins aunt, Margaret Burns, said that her nephew had only once made contact with his father in the past 36 years, and that was on the day of his mothers funeral 16 years ago. She said that at the funeral he had boasted of owning 17 properties and predicted that he would be a millionaire by the age of 50.
Officers from Cleveland Police will meet Mr Darwin before Friday.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Beddow said: This has been a long-running inquiry by Cleveland Police and officers from the inquiry team hope to speak to Mr Darwin to establish his whereabouts.
Vanishing acts
John Stonehouse The former Labour Cabinet minister was presumed to have drowned after his clothes were found in a pile on a beach in Miami on November 20, 1974. He was, in fact, en route to Australia, where he hoped to swap his family and mounting debts for a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley. Having adopted the new identity of John Markham, he was discovered on Christmas Eve by Australian police, who thought initially that he might be the missing British aristocrat Lord Lucan. Stonehouse was eventually deported to Britain and imprisoned for his crime.
Karl Hackett Reported missing, presumed dead, by Lee Simm after the Paddington train crash in October 1999. Mr Simm maintained his story for a month and Mr Hacketts relatives attended a memorial service before it was discovered that the two men were the same person. It emerged later that Mr Hackett had been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for indecent assault in 1987, and had lived as Lee Simm since his release. He saw the Paddington crash, in which 31 people died and dozens were seriously injured, as an opportunity to kill off his former identity. In 2000 he received a suspended sentence for wasting police time.
Graham Cardwell A Lincolnshire dockmaster, Mr Cardwell was thought to have died in September 1998 after his belongings were found on mud flats on the docks where he worked. His grieving family members were somewhat surprised when he was discovered about eight months later very much alive and well, and living as a bachelor 200 miles away in the West Midlands. He claimed that he had decided to stage his disappearance after coming to believe that he was suffering from cancer.
Thomas Osmond Attempted to avoid standing trial for sex offences by faking his own suicide. The civil servant was thought to have killed himself by jumping off the Severn Bridge in March 1995, the day before his trial was due to start, and left a suicide note to support that version of events. One suspicious detective did not believe the father of three was dead, however, and kept on searching. He eventually discovered Osmond in Bristol three years later, where he had been living under the false identity of Stephen Williams. Osmond was sentenced to seven years in prison.