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

CANOE wife Anne Darwin sent husband John an email as he flew back to Britain to give himself up pleading "Don't leave me", a court heard today.

The couple had been in Panama where they planned a new life following their £250,000 fake death scam.

But John decided to head back to London to hand himself in to police.

CANOE wife Anne Darwin wept in court today when her son told of the moment he discovered his dad had faked his own death - and his mum had known all about it.

Mark Darwin, 32, was giving evidence against his mother who is accused of being in on husband John's £250,000 scam.

The first he knew of his mother's involvement was shortly after his dad came back from the dead last December, when he saw the famous photo of them posing happily in Panama.

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.