John Darwin boasted of being a millionaire

Dec 9 2007 by Eleanor Gregson, Sunday Sun

WHEN John Darwin walked into a London police station last weekend claiming he was a missing person and suffering amnesia it marked the beginning of one of the most extraordinary news stories for years.

He was believed to have died five years ago in an apparent canoeing tragedy. That resulted in his wife Anne receiving a small fortune from insurance pay-outs enabling her to start a new life in Panama.

While Darwin was last night at the centre of a fraud probe, ELEANOR GREGSON and NIGEL GREEN investigate the life and possible crimes of the modern-day Reginald Perrin . . .

BACK-FROM-THE-DEAD John Darwin boasted about becoming a millionaire at his mum’s funeral, a close relative has revealed.

The missing canoeist bragged about how many houses he owned shortly after his mother Jenny, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, died in 2001, claims his aunt Margaret Burns, of Blackhall Colliery, County Durham.

The 80-year-old said: “I hardly knew him because he had put on weight.

“He was just boasting about how many houses he owned. He said he’d be a millionaire.

“He reckoned he had 17 colliery houses in Easington Colliery. At that time, he was talking about colliery houses which they were practically giving away.

“But he sold all of those when he moved to Seaton Carew. Apparently, he had houses up at Stanley as well.” Margaret, a former social worker, says she has questioned wife Anne’s movements the day of John’s disappearance.

She said: “When he didn’t turn up to work at the prison that day, the prison tried to get hold of Anne but she was not at work.

“I understand she’d been delayed going to see friends in Durham.”

Mr Darwin, 57, went missing while canoeing off the coast of Hartlepool in March 2002.

An inquest in April 2003 recorded an open verdict, but his family had him formally pronounced dead.

He reappeared at a London police station last Saturday night claiming to remember nothing since 2000.

A former neighbour of Anne’s parents, Harry and Catherine, was stunned at suggestions she played a part in her husband’s disappearance.

She said: “She was a lovely girl who was always very quiet. To

me, she wouldn’t dream of doing anything underhand.

“She was too nice. I just couldn’t imagine her doing that.

“I was amazed she went to Panama . . . she was always so quiet.”

Mr Darwin’s elderly father Ronald, who also lives in Blackhall Colliery, has “crumbled” since revelations of his son’s reappearance and subsequent arrest, said Margaret.

She explained: “When John turned up alive, Ronnie was really proud and happy.

“It’s been terrible watching him crumble as the story’s unfolded. He still hasn’t been reunited. Is it going to be a help for Ronnie to see his son in custody?”

His son’s disappearance in 2002 left the 90-year-old devastated.

Margaret said: “Ronnie would hold his throat and say he was thinking about John drowning. They really believed that he had drowned.”