How ‘Canoe Man’ John Darwin escaped the UK by stealing identity of dead baby

John Darwin dedicated a disgusting crime when he faked his personal dying – however his most sickening act was but to come back.

The 71-year-old conman got here up with a vile scheme to faux he had died out at sea in a canoe accident in 2002, whereas ex-wife Anne Darwin collected his £250,000 life insurance coverage coverage.

The previous couple lied to the police, their mates, household and even their two heartbroken sons, who disowned their parents and have solely not too long ago started constructing bridges.

Whereas a manhunt for John started, he was secretly residing within the woods earlier than moving into a bedsit next to the family home which he may entry by way of a door behind Anne’s wardrobe.

Within the second episode of latest ITV drama The Thief, His Spouse and the Canoe, viewers will see John efficiently making use of for a passport to create a brand new id whereas forcing Anne to demand an inquest into his dying to allow them to get the insurance coverage pay out.

In actual life, twisted John scoured graveyards and information in native papers trying to find a reputation he may use and stole the id of a lifeless child.

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Police imagine he came upon John Jones – a child born 5 months earlier than him however who sadly died a month later.

Darwin reportedly used John’s title to accumulate a start certificates then used the doc alongside a black and white photograph of himself sporting a protracted bushy beard to get a passport.

His suspected ploy may have been taken from the pages of Frederick Forsyth’s traditional The Day of the Jackal, the e book which he’s seen studying within the opening episode of the ITV drama.

Within the best-selling novel, later become a film, a personality trawls graveyards on the lookout for the gravestone of a child boy whose title would be the foundation of a false id.

Within the construct up, Fox trawls graveyards on the lookout for the gravestone of a child boy whose title would be the foundation of a false id.

Talking in 2007 the sister of the lifeless child, Frieda Woods, who lives near the cemetery the place her brother is buried, stated: “It is horrible to assume that this man could have used my brother’s title in his scheme. I really feel horrible, it is such a shock.

“After I heard Darwin was utilizing the title John Jones, I did assume ‘That is my brother’s title’. However I by no means thought Darwin may have stolen it from him.

“My dad and mom at all times used to discuss John and instructed us he’d died barely a month after being born. He was untimely and underweight. In these days they could not do as a lot for infants like that.

“My dad and mom at the moment are lifeless, however they by no means forgot him. John was their first born, the eldest of 9.”

John Jones was born on March 27, 1950, at his gran’s house in Sunderland and died simply 5 weeks later from enteritis on the metropolis’s Hospital for Infectious Ailments.

Frieda’s youngest brother, Alfred Jones, had been warned by police his brother’s title could have been utilized by Darwin.

He stated: “If that is what he did he is introduced an harmless household into this, and we’re disgusted. I felt sick to the abdomen on the considered my brother’s title getting used on this manner. It is despicable.”

It’s claimed the pretend ID was utilized by Darwin on journeys to Gibraltar and Spain to view a crusing boat in 2005 and to journey to Panama Metropolis and Costa Rica with ex-wife Anne.

When the surprising extent of what Darwin did got here out, one other brother Alf blasted Darwin for being a “grave robber”.

“If he desires to be a person about it he ought to meet with me. If he actually was sorry he may have issued an apology at court docket when he was jailed years in the past,” stated Alf.

They needed a change within the legislation in order that start certificates of lifeless kids are issued with a marker to make sure they can’t be used fraudulently.

Darwin had persistently refused to elucidate his actions to the Jones household, however in 2011 made a U-turn and apologised for utilizing the lifeless kid’s title.

Explaining his sickening actions, Darwin stated: “I picked out of the information one which was born kind of the identical time as me. It may have been anybody. I’m sorry for my crime and for any harm it has prompted. There was no malice meant.”

For years John used their ill-gotten beneficial properties to fly world wide in a bid to start out a brand new life, finally buying a £200,000 tropical property in a village in Panama in Might 2007.

Nonetheless, a change in Panama’s visa legal guidelines meant his plan to settle there was ruined and he got here again to the UK claiming he had amnesia.

On 1 December, 2007, he walked right into a police station in London and instructed officers: “I believe I’m a lacking particular person.”

However the pair had been rumbled by {a photograph} obtained by the Mirror, which confirmed them in an property agent’s workplace and ran with the headline ‘Canoe’s this in Panama?’.

John was sentenced to 6 years and three months in jail for admitting deception by faking his personal dying, whereas Anne obtained six-and-a-half years behind bars for fraud.

He was launched from jail in January 2011 after serving half his sentence, whereas Anne acquired out in March 2011.

The pair acquired divorced whereas behind bars and John went on to maneuver to the Philippines and marry Filipina bride Mercy, who’s 23 years his junior.

His new life was a far cry from the one he dreamed of because the swindler helped to flog his market dealer spouse’s £4.35 a time underwear and T-shirts on her stall in an enormous indoor market.

Final yr it was reported that the couple moved out of crowded capital Manila to a brand new house round half-hour away and John was nonetheless receiving a UK state pension of round £134 per week.

Whereas Anne has led a a lot ore quieter life working for the RSPCA and even managed to construct bridges along with her sons.

Within the new ITV drama, John is performed by Hollywood actor Eddie Marsan, who says the conman reveals a type of poisonous masculinity which is sort of widespread these days.

“John tried to construct a buy-to-let empire and retire early. He had delusions of grandeur,” says Eddie.

“In a narcissistic manner, he thought he was smarter than everybody else,” explains Eddie. “That’s why he had the cohones to do this. He thought he may outsmart everybody else.

“He noticed different folks as merely two-dimensional and thought he was the one three-dimensional particular person on the earth. However he underestimated folks’s skill to see by way of him.”

Eddie believes John’s narcissism is seen in the best way he handled his sons, believing they might merely “recover from it in a couple of weeks” as a result of he did not realise they might be that hooked up to him.

When requested if John is a personality folks will recognise, Eddie provides: “Sure. John’s a fantasist, however his story captures the zeitgeist. I at all times play characters who’re psychologically deluded, narcissistic or abusive.

“It was that they had been on the periphery of tales. Society was the norm, they usually had been exterior it. However not too long ago I’ve been taking part in these characters and they’re amongst us now.

“The thought of a middle-aged man affected by self-delusion and narcissism is sort of distinguished.”

*The Thief, His Spouse and the Canoe is on ITV at 9pm from Easter Sunday to Wednesday twentieth April

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