Anne Darwin, wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist,"put on great act" fooling police and own children

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The wife of canoeist John Darwin used "guile, convincing pretence, persistence and guts" to trick people her husband had drowned and pull off a £250,000 con, a court heard today.

Anne Darwin, 56, convinced insurance companies, a coroner and even her own children, that he had died in a canoe accident.

She denies six counts of deception and nine of money laundering, and has claimed that her husband forced her to go along with his plan.

Teeside Crown Court heard how the former doctor's receptionist put on a "great act" for five-and-a-half years to persuade everyone her husband had drowned at sea on 2002 by their home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.

Andrew Robertson QC, prosecuting, told a jury that mounting debts of £64,000 and escalating mortgage repayments had forced the Darwins into hatching the desperate plan.

"They were at risk of being made bankrupt - the shame and embarrassment of which neither of them wished to face," he said.

"Out of this dire financial situation, seeds of this fraud were born.

"The initial idea may well have been John Darwin's rather than Anne's but, in the Crown's submission, it was a scheme in which Anne Darwin not only played an equal and vital role but it was a role which she played with superb aplomb."

Robertson said the plan to stage Darwin's death then claim insurance and pension money was simple.

He added: "Her role was a positive one. John Darwin, after supposedly disappearing, had simply to keep his head down so the falsity of his disappearance would not be rumbled by anybody.

"She had to take all the positive steps. But if she kept her nerve, which she coolly did, the rewards were going to be considerable, which they were - sufficient not only to discharge the debts, but to finance a potentially idyllic life abroad and together. She put on a great act."

The court was shown how Anne Darwin picked up her husband from the beach and took him to Durham railway station to lie low for a while. She then reported him missing to the police and an air and sea search was launched.

Robertson added: "It is clear in our submission that at no stage in the ensuing five-and-a-half years before this fraud came to light did Anne Darwin's nerve ever fail her."

He also revealed how Anne had convinced the local coroner, the police and, most poignantly of all, her own children.

"She convinced them herself that their father was dead and that they would never see him again."

The trial is adjourned until tomorrow.