Canoe couple monitored by prosecutors

Prosecutors say they are continually monitoring canoe couple John and Anne Darwin as today marks 10 years since their world renowned fraud first came to light.

John and Anne Darwin were each found to have benefited by £679,194.62 from the con they hatched in 2002.

But he has only paid back £40,121, while Anne Darwin could still be ordered to pay back £177,000 after the selling off of all her assets raised £501,641.39 to be paid back.

John Darwin was reported missing off the coast of March 2002. After he was declared dead, Anne collected more than £500,000 in life insurance pay outs, while he hidin their home at The Cliff, Seaton Carew. But he made headlines around the world when he walked into a London policeDecember 1,2007, claiming he had amnesia.

During the trial of Anne Darwin at Teesside Crown Court, it was found the couple hatched the plan for John to stage his own death.

It emerged he had stolen the identity of Sunderland tot John Jones so he could get a passport and travelled to Panama, and joined by Anne.

But on December 1, 2007, John Darwin returned to the UK and walked into a Londonsaying he believed he was a missing person.

John Darwin was jailed for six years after admitting fraud and Anne was later jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of fraud.

After they were jailed, proceedings started to claw back their ill-gotten gains.For each of them, the figure placed on their criminal benefit was £679,194.62. Anne Darwin paid £501,641.39 under a confiscation order in 2009. But John Darwin had only £121 available and a confiscation order for that amount was made at that time.

In March 2014, policeJohn Darwin was to receive a further significant pay out in the form of pensions from his work as a prison officer and as a teacher. As he was in prison, he did not apply for these until his probation period finished in March 2014. The pensions were to be paid in lump sums, with a monthly payout thereafter.

As a result, the confiscation order against John Darwin was increased to £40,121 and a further £40,000 seized from those lump sum payments.The sum brought the amount paid in confiscationorders by the Darwins to £ 541, 76239 p.

Prosecutors say they are still monitoring the couple’ s finance sand both could still face future proceeds of crime applications (PO CA ). A spokesman for the CPS said: “The actions of both John and Anne Darwin are continually being reviewed and future PO CA applications may still be made.”