'Canoeist missing for five years walks into police station'

Max_Damage

A canoeist who went missing and was presumed drowned more than five years ago has walked into a London police station.

The shattered remains of John Darwin’s red canoe were found washed up on a beach in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool in England, in March 2002.

An extensive search involving police and coastguard officers was carried out on the coastline from Hartlepool down to Staithes, North Yorkshire, but no trace was ever found of Mr Darwin, then aged 51.

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But Cleveland Police said Mr Darwin, a married father-of-two, walked into the West End Central Police Station in London at 5.30pm on Saturday.

A spokesman said: “Mr Darwin is fit and well and relatives have been informed of his whereabouts. It is not known at this time where he has spent the last five and a half years.”

Mr Darwin’s disappearance sparked agony for his family.

His wife Anne, a doctor’s receptionist, said six months after her husband vanished: “People die, have a funeral, they have a headstone, there is something to mark the fact they existed on this earth.

“But without a body, I don’t know how we can mark John’s life. All I want is to bury his body. It would enable me to move on. It’s difficult to grieve without bringing things to a close, but as it is I’m in limbo and there’s nothing I can do.”

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhmhidsnqlsn/

Xavi6

So there's hope for Steve Fossett yet

Lands Leaving

Where the hell was he??

See, I told you Zombies were real!

So what do they do with his grave now that he's still alive?

Guy:Incognito

While we're on this subject. What ever came of that woman that walked into a garda station with the Chihuahua a few weeks back?

Lands Leaving

Deleted User wrote: »

See, I told you Zombies were real!

So what do they do with his grave now that he's still alive?

Dig up the hobo they buried alive.

monkeyfudge

I don't trust those Hartlepool bastards...

They hung that monkey!

Dord

Stekelly wrote: »

While we're on this subject. What ever came of that woman that walked into a garda station with the Chihuahua a few weeks back?

Someone claimed her.

Naos

I wonder if his wife had moved on, a la Castaway, what would happen between them...

Would she dump her new man or just break the news gently to the poor guy?

RoyalMarine

better yet, do the family have to return the insurance policy payout now??

skelliser

Xavi6 wrote: »

So there's hope for Steve Fossett yet

they still havent found him??!!! thats crazy

Xavi6

skelliser wrote: »

they still havent found him??!!! thats crazy

Yeah read the other day that his missus want him declared officially dead. She got the whiff of an insurance pay out I'm sure.

longshanks

Xavi6 wrote: »

Yeah read the other day that his missus want him declared officially dead. She got the whiff of an insurance pay out I'm sure.

or maybe she wants closure on an extremely difficult time in her life.

marcsignal

skelliser wrote: »

they still havent found him??!!! thats crazy

He disappeared over the nevada desert, didn't he ?
prob strayed a bit too close to area 51

shot down i guess

Duiske

Xavi6 wrote: »

Yeah read the other day that his missus want him declared officially dead. She got the whiff of an insurance pay out I'm sure.

Even without the insurance he is/was worth millions.

WhiteWashMan

i thought this was going to be a joke.


a canoeist walks into a police stations and says....

Xavi6

longshanks wrote: »

or maybe she wants closure on an extremely difficult time in her life.

Ah now come on. The guys been missing for three months. A person is not usually pronounced dead until they are missing for seven years. Yes chances are he's dead but surely a loving wife would want to hold onto any last bit of hope. So far they have found eight previously unknown crash sights while looking for him so chances are the private groups still looking for him will find more. Mrs. Fossett just seems to be giving up hope a bit too easily.

LadyJ

Xavi6 wrote: »

surely a loving wife would want to hold onto any last bit of hope

Hope is a killer. At least when someone is declared dead there is some closure. Waiting for something to happen is far, far harder.

Xavi6

LadyJ wrote: »

Hope is a killer. At least when someone is declared dead there is some closure. Waiting for something to happen is far, far harder.

A blow no doubt softened by a couple of million in the bank. *


*Yes I know I'm terribly cynical

seamus

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

better yet, do the family have to return the insurance policy payout now??

Insurance policies generally don't pay out without a death certificate, which can only be obtained when you have a body or when someone is missing for seven years.

robinph

They said on the BBC news last night that the canoeists wife had sold off their house a couple of months ago and dissapeared herself. Cannot find any mention of that in the stories this morning though but a bit odd that she's not yet appeared in the stories about her husband reappearing after five years.

WhiteWashMan

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

i thought this was going to be a joke.


a canoeist walks into a police stations and says....

Yeah, I thought the same

A missing cannoeist for five years walks into a police station

You think he would've seen it.

Duiske

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah, I thought the same

A missing cannoeist for five years walks into a police station

You think he would've seen it.

Looks like he's going to be seeing a lot more of it.....linky

watna

robinph wrote: »

They said on the BBC news last night that the canoeists wife had sold off their house a couple of months ago and dissapeared herself. Cannot find any mention of that in the stories this morning though but a bit odd that she's not yet appeared in the stories about her husband reappearing after five years.

In the papaer this morning, it said she had sold their seaside home and moved to Panama in the last few months, but is kids are still in England. it was in the metro I saw it.

Edit: just read above, very interesting! There's a solution to my debt problems!

seamus

Duiske wrote: »

Looks like he's going to be seeing a lot more of it.....linky

Haha! That qualifies for zing of the year I think. Looking at the photos, he could possibly just be a lookalike, but the wife sticks out a mile, it's the teeth.

Clearly a blatant insurance fraud - a coroner pronounced him dead after just a year, despite being sans corpse so she got the insurance money. Perhaps the coroner was promised a few quid for his troubles.

Sounds like maybe he missed his family or they had a row and broke up so he decided that "coming back from the dead" sounded like a good idea.

God bless the Internet. It weeds out all sorts of small time scammers.

MOH

Not a very good scam really? Get away with it, everyone thinks your dead, claim the insurance money, then walk into a police station 7 years later?

Oswald Osbourne

Duiske wrote: »

Looks like he's going to be seeing a lot more of it.....linky

Looks like he's up the creek without a paddle this time.

Haha, so it was a scam after all:

The mystery of missing canoeist John Darwin could well have been cracked by a single mother using the internet.

While the world's media and experienced detectives tried to unravel Mr Darwin's missing five years, the unnamed mother put the words John, Anne and Panama into Google and up popped a picture that seems to show the "dead" man with his wife Anne in Panama dated from July last year.

That was four years after the 57-year-old had gone missing off the coast while out in his canoe and later pronounced dead at an inquest. When she forwarded the picture to detectives she said she was told: "You're joking".

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

Hah, so so idiotic.