'Back from the dead' canoeist returned to UK 'after discovering wife's affair'

Darwin was reportedly heartbroken after his wife said she was leaving him after 34 years. As a result he decided to try and start again in the UK.

Using the cover that he had lost his memory, 57-year-old Darwin was hoping to reclaim his old life and leave Anne with her Canadian boyfriend in Panama.

It is alleged he realised all the couple's assets were in her name and he would be left with nothing when she ended the relationship.

This new information offers one explanation why Darwin walked in a London police station 13 days ago claiming he had no memory of who he was.

According to The Sun, the couple's marriage had been crumbling for years after Darwin had used the internet to contact women in America.

The tabloid also alledged he was the first of the two who threatened to abandon their deceitful pact after meeting a woman from Kansas with whom he intended to buy a farm in America.

It is claimed Darwin poured his heart out to a cell-mate at Kirkleatham police station, near Redcar, where he was being held, who has now been released.

The former prisoner said to The Sun: "The first thing I asked was why the hell had he come back.

"He replied 'Women' and looked to the skies. He said his wife had been having an affair with a Canadian bloke.

"She was going to leave him and he was going to be left with nothing. He said that all their assets were in her name and basically he did not exist.

"He had no bank account and therefore he had no money. He just felt he had no option but to return to the UK.

"He didn't talk about the amnesia at all or how he thought it might have worked out when he got home.

"He seemed relieved he could start living his life as who he really is again."

Since returning, the former teacher and prison officer, has been charged with dishonestly obtaining £25,000 and making an untrue statement to procure a passport.

He made second appearance before Hartlepool Magistrates' Court since walking into a police station on December 1 after being thought to have been dead for five and a half years.

After appearing via a videolink from Low Newton Prison in County Durham, sporting a new cropped haircut and only speaking once to confirm his name, magistrates remanded him in custody.

Meanwhile, his wife, Anne, 55, has also been remanded in custody until the same date.

She is accused of dishonestly obtaining a £25,000 life insurance payment and a policy worth £137,000 which settled her mortgage in the event of his death.

About a dozen journalists filled the public gallery to see the couple but no members of the Darwin family were in court.

The couple's two sons have disowned them and deny any knowledge of their parents' scam.

They released a statement saying: "How could our mam continue to let us believe our dad had died when he was very much alive?"

Police have repeatedly said the sons were not suspects in the case.