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British police say canoeist's sons were scam victims

The two sons of the "back-from-the-dead" canoeist are the innocent victims of an alleged scam, police said on Monday.

Mark Darwin, 32, and his 29-year-old brother, Anthony, were questioned on Saturday by detectives investigating the disappearance of their father, John, who went missing after taking to sea in a canoe off Hartlepool, northern England, five years ago.

"The result of these lengthy interviews was that there was nothing to suggest they are anything other than witnesses and, of course, victims in the case," a Cleveland police spokeswoman said.

The men have insisted that they knew nothing of their parents' alleged deception.

In an earlier statement Mark, from Finchley and Anthony, from Basingstoke said that they had disowned their parents.

John Darwin, a prison officer when he vanished, was thought to have drowned on March 21 2002 while canoeing near his home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.

The alarm was raised after he failed to arrive for work at Holme House prison.

A 16-hour coastal search, involving police, coastguards, aircraft, nine lifeboats and a Royal Navy ship, found no trace of him.

Weeks later a paddle was discovered and the wreckage of his canoe.

His sons had given up hope of seeing Darwin alive until he walked into a central London police station on Dec. 1 and said: "I think I am a missing person."

His wife, Anne, who moved to Panama a few weeks before he resurfaced, said her sons had believed their father was dead.

Darwin, 57, and his wife were remanded in custody last week and will appear before Hartlepool magistrates again on Jan. 11.

He is charged with dishonestly obtaining money and making an untrue statement to procure a passport.

His wife is accused of dishonestly obtaining a life insurance payment and a policy.
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