John Darwin Disappearance Case - Return and Arrest

Return and Arrest

After a change in Panama's visa laws Darwin decided to return to the UK and fake amnesia. On 14 June 2007 he emailed Anne to say that in order to obtain the now-required Panamian "investors's visa" their identities would have to be verified by the UK police. He knew his John Jones alias would not pass such close scrutiny. So he decided to turn John Jones back into John Darwin. He thought he could convince the UK that he had lost his memory and rejoin Anne in Panama with his new passport, police check and driving licence.

On 1 December 2007, Darwin walked into West End Central police station in London, claiming to have no memory of the past five years. His wife Anne - who had sold up her properties in England and moved to Panama three months before his re-appearance - expressed surprise, joy and elation at the return of her missing husband. The UK police by that time already suspected that Darwin might not be dead since Anne Darwin, who portrayed herself as a broken-hearted widow, took foreign holidays, planned to sell the family home in Hartlepool to move to Panama and transferred large sums of money abroad.

The story deepened on 5 December 2007, when the Daily Mirror published a photo of John and Anne Darwin taken in Panama in 2006. Anne reportedly confirmed that the photograph was of John, saying "Yes, that's him. My sons will never forgive me". The photograph had been discovered when a member of the public typed the words "John", "Anne" and "Panama" into Google Images. The photo was featured on the website movetopanama.com and brought to the attention of the Daily Mirror and Cleveland Police. The police then arrested Darwin at the house of his son Anthony in Basingstoke.

Police had begun inquiries into the financial circumstances of the case three months before Darwin's reappearance, following the report made by one of Anne Darwin's colleagues. Mrs. Darwin was known to have claimed on her husband's life insurance and then emigrated to Panama, so the possibility that she knew him to be alive suggested an irregularity.

John Darwin's two sons initially expressed elation at the return of their father but, as the story unfolded, they issued a joint statement stating they felt they had been victims of a scam, and implying that they wished to have no further contact with their parents. Both sons were reported to have changed their jobs prior to their father's re-appearance. On 6 December, one of John Darwin's sons allegedly disappeared after clearing out his North London flat and leaving a notebook reportedly containing coded messages for his girlfriend, as well as directions for her to get to London City Airport. Police emphasised that he was not suspected of any crime.

John Darwin had been using the name "John Jones" in a false passport and other documentation. Police examined the passport in order to piece together Darwin's movements in the previous five years; it reportedly showed several trips to Panama. Darwin used the identity of a deceased baby to obtain a false passport; the infant, John Jones, was born in Sunderland, County Durham, in March 1950 but died a few weeks later. This technique featured in the 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.

On 8 December, the Daily Mail quoted Anne Darwin as saying that, although she initially thought her husband was dead, he turned up at their home in 2003 and lived there secretly, and in an adjacent bedsit that she owned, for about three years. He entered the home from the bedsit through a secret hole in the wall; the hole was hidden behind a wardrobe with a false back. The article stated that, two months after he had moved back in with Anne, she was persuaded to attend an inquest into his death so she could claim the life insurance. John was pronounced dead, and the life insurance company paid only half of the £50,000 policy total because no body had been found. Anne said he had faked his death to escape financial difficulties arising from properties they owned. She claimed that he had decided to return publicly because he missed his sons, who had not been aware he was still alive. Later that day Darwin was charged with obtaining life insurance money by deception and making an untrue statement to obtain a passport.

On 9 December, Anne Darwin was arrested at Manchester Airport upon returning to the UK. She was detained in connection with allegations of fraud. She appeared in court on 11 December in Hartlepool to face two charges of fraud - obtaining £25,000 and £137,000 by deception. She remained in custody until 14 December.

Darwin appeared at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court on 10 December, where he was also remanded in custody until 14 December.

On 14 December, Anne and John Darwin appeared separately before Hartlepool Magistrates' Court and they both were remanded in custody to appear again on 11 January 2008.

On 9 January 2008, John and Anne Darwin returned to Hartlepool Magistrates' court to face further charges of deception. John faced an additional charge of obtaining £137,000 by deception (the same charge his wife was already facing) in addition to the existing life insurance charge against both of them for £25,000 and John's separate charge of obtaining a passport by deception. They were then both charged together from obtaining more money from a teachers' pension scheme (two separate amounts of £25,186 and £58,845), plus obtaining money from the Department for Work and Pensions (two separate amounts of £2,000 and £2,273). They were remanded in custody once more to appear in court again on 18 January 2008.

On 18 January, they each appeared separately at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court by video-link and were remanded in custody until 15 February, when they faced committal to Crown Court.

On 13 March, John Darwin admitted seven charges of obtaining cash by deception and a passport offence at Leeds Crown Court. He denied nine charges of using criminal property; these charges will remain on file, according to prosecutors. Anne Darwin denied six charges of deception and nine of using criminal property.