Canoeist facing jail for fraud

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The former teacher and prison officer pleaded guilty to seven charges of deception and one charge of making false statements to procure a passport.

But Darwin, 57, denied nine counts of converting criminal property when he appeared before Leeds Crown Court.

Darwin was told he will not face trial for these charges, which will be left to lie on file.

His wife Anne, 55, a former doctor's receptionist, denied six counts of deception and nine charges of converting criminal property and will stand trial later this year.

Peter Makepeace, representing Darwin, asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared and said his client "accepts entirely that a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable".

Mr Justice Wilkie agreed for the report to be prepared but he told Darwin he will have to be held in custody until the conclusion of his wife's trial, which will begin on July 14 at Teesside Crown Court.

Darwin disappeared after taking his canoe into the sea opposite his home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in March 2002. A huge air-sea search failed to find any trace of his body and he was pronounced dead by police and a coroner the following year.

It has since been alleged that the former teacher and prison officer was living next door to his wife at her seaside home in Seaton Carew for much of the time he was thought to have been dead.

The mystery of his disappearance started to unravel when Darwin walked into a London police station on December 1 last year and announced: "I think I'm a missing person."