The wife of fraudster John Darwin "thought nothing" of telling her sons their father was dead, a court heard.

Anne Darwin, 56, convinced insurance companies, a coroner and relatives that her husband had died in a canoe accident, Teesside Crown Court heard.

On March 21, 2002, John Darwin, 57, pushed his canoe out to sea at Seaton Carew near Hartlepool then disappeared, living rough before fleeing to Panama, Central America.

It was left to his wife to convince the authorities he had drowned and con insurers out of £250,000 before joining him abroad, said Andrew Robertson QC, prosecuting.

Anne Darwin denies six counts of deception and nine of money laundering, claiming her husband forced her into helping him carry out the scam.

John Darwin will be sentenced later after admitting seven charges of deception and one charge of making false statements to procure a passport.

Mr Robertson said the couple needed money after buying a string of homes in Durham and Seaton Carew and racking up debts of £300,000.

Mr Robertson QC said: "They were at risk of being made bankrupt - the shame and embarrassment of which neither of them wished to face. Out of this dire financial situation, seeds of this fraud were born.

"The initial idea may well have been John Darwin's rather than Anne's but, in the Crown's submission, it was a scheme in which Anne Darwin not only played an equal and vital role but it was a role which she played with superb aplomb.

"John Darwin had pushed his canoe out to sea, and had provisions with him, so that he could live rough, while Anne Darwin could pretend that he'd been tragically lost at sea.

"At no stage in the ensuing five-and-a-half years before this fraud came to light did Anne Darwin's nerve ever fail her.

"She also convinced the local coroner, the police and, most poignantly of all, her own children. She convinced them herself that their father was dead and that they would never see him again."

"Anne Darwin clearly thought nothing of lying to her sons in this way and convincing them that their own father was lost at sea and dead in order to see this fraud through to its conclusion."

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