Wife In on Death Scam: 'Sons Will Never Forgive Me'

LONDON, Dec. 6, 2007 — -- One morning in March 2002, John Darwin, a 57-year-old prison officer, went on a kayak ride and didn't come back for five years.

After he disappeared, police said they launched a massive air and sea search — Darwin was nowhere to be found until last weekend.

He walked into West End Central Police Station and declared that police may be looking for him. Darwin claimed to have no memory of the last five years.

Now it has transpired that sometime during those five years he moved with his wife to Panama, having sold their properties in England for about a million dollars. They left behind two sons grieving the sudden death of their father.

"My sons will never forgive me," Anne Darwin told the British tabloid the Daily Mirror. "They knew nothing. They thought John was dead. Now, they are going to hate me."

British tabloids published a picture that it said showed the couple in Panama. Anne Darwin confessed today that the picture was indeed genuine.

'How Could They?'

In a statement released by Cleveland, U.K. police, the couple's sons, Anthony and Mark, expressed their "anger and confusion" at the news that their mother had let them believe that their father was dead, while the couple were actually enjoying life in Panama.

"We have gone through a roller coaster of emotions," the sons said in the statement. "How could our mom continue to let us believe our dad had died when he was very much alive?"

Anthony and Mark told reporters they had not spoken to either of their parents since their father's arrest and didn't want any further contact with them.

Anne Darwin is reportedly on her way back to England.

Darwin's story has drawn massive media attention in the United Kingdom and worldwide.

However, at this point, the Darwin disappearance is still very blurry — did he fake his death to cash in money from his insurance company?

Early police reports, and speculation from family members and the media, points at fraud.

"It's easy to turn up to the police and say that you don't remember anything," former Metropolitan Police Officer John O'Connor told ABC News. "Saying that he lost his memory was probably his last to attempt to fool the authorities."

It is very rare for people to lose their memory on the long term, Royal College fellow psychiatrist Cosmo Hallstrom told ABC News.

"There are conditions in which people lose their memories, if they receive a bang on the head, or if they take drugs," said Hallstrom, "but losing all your memory for a long period of time, that only happens in Hollywood movies."

It is an unusual case, says Cleveland police, who think Darwin may have hidden in foreign countries and used a fake name.

Besides drawing their sons' anger, the Darwins may endure considerable financial troubles, according to O'Connor.

"It's a pretty bleak future for them," he said.

They probably still have a mortgage to pay on their properties, said O'Connor.

"It's likely that they won't be able to pay, so they will most certainly have to go to court," he said. "When you are doing something like this, you should be thinking of what you are losing."

"You risk losing your citizenship, national health service — it's not a good deal," said O'Connor.

According to O'Connor, the police were tipped off by the insurance company that Darwin was still alive.

Before paying death-in-service benefits "the insurance company requires a death certificate," Malcom Tarling, with the Association of British Insurers, told ABC News. "But obviously in that case, the body had not been found."

In such cases, it's up to the coroners' court to assess whether there is sufficient evidence to pronounce a death. Then, an application is filed to the insurance company and after that the benefits can be paid.

Insurance a Motive?

However, even after the coroner rules, the insurance company may still conduct its own investigation, according to Tarling.

"Once an insurance company is after you," said O'Connor, "they will definitely succeed."

Each year, around 210,000 people, a third of them adults, disappear in the United Kingdom, according to the British charity Missing People. Most of them disappear for less than 48 hours.

Among those who choose to disappear, a majority do so "to escape from family problems or after a relationship breakdown," Geoff Newiss, head of research with Missing People, told ABC News. "But some go missing to avoid being arrested. Sometimes, they will be recorded a missing, some other times, as wanted."

Darwin's journey echoes the adventures of the fictional British television character Reggie Perrin, who set up his own disappearance.

The Perrin character was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and pretended he had drowned by leaving his clothes on a beach.

In real life, prominent British civil servants have gone missing in the past.

Among them, former Labour MP John Stonehouse faked his own drowning by leaving some of his clothes on Miami Beach in November 1974.

Stonehouse was later found by police in Melbourne, Australia. He had started a new life with his mistress and former secretary.

Stonehouse was imprisoned for fraud. He was released three years later and married his former secretary.

Unanswered Questions

Thomas Osmond, another civil servant, on the day of his trial for sexual offenses in March 1995, left a suicide note, stating that he was going to jump off a river bridge north of Bristol.

Osmond disappeared, but was later found and jailed.

In Darwin's case, many questions remain unanswered; among them, is why he did report to the police.

As of today, the investigation has not provided an answer.

"Most people go missing turn up again very quickly," Malcolm Payne, director of psychological care at St. Christopher's hospice, told ABC News.

"They go away and then they come back," said Payne. "They realize they've got to come back. To them, wherever they are, they are not missing."

"It's the people who [you] left behind who see you as missing," he added.