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British 'Dead' Man Charged With Life Insurance Fraud

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By ROB HARRIS, The Associated Press

Published: December 9, 2007

REDCAR, England - A British man who was declared dead after disappearing at sea five years ago masterminded an elaborate life insurance fraud to pay off family debts and also lied to get a false passport, police said Saturday.
John Darwin was declared officially dead after an apparent 2002 canoeing accident but turned himself in at a police station a week ago, claiming to have suffered amnesia.

Police allege he faked his death to clear his family's debts and say he will appear before a court Monday.

Two British newspapers reported Saturday that Darwin spent much of the past five years hiding in a small room behind a closet at his home in northeastern England.

Detective Sgt. Iain Henderson said officers want to question Darwin's wife, Anne, who had been in Panama but left there Wednesday.

Henderson said officers are in contact with the couple's two sons - who have said in a statement that they had no idea their father was still alive.

According to the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror newspapers, the couple had tens of thousands of dollars of debts from the failure of their apartment rental business. Anne Darwin said her husband said the only way out was to fake his death and that she pleaded with him not to do it.

The case has fascinated the country since Darwin walked into a London police station Dec. 1.

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