Sons tell of mother's 'betrayal'

Mark Darwin, 32, told Teesside Crown Court his "world was crushed" when he was told his father was missing presumed dead off the Hartlepool coast in 2002.

He went on to tell the court of his anger at his mother Anne when he saw a photograph on the internet of his smiling parents in Panama four years later.

"I couldn't believe the fact she knew he was alive all this time and I had been lied to for God knows how long."

His brother Anthony, 29, said when his father reappeared at a London police station last year, he felt "disbelief and anger" because he originally thought it was someone pretending to be his dad.

And he told the court that when he saw the photo he felt "betrayed".

Anne Darwin, 56, denies six counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering.

She dabbed her eyes in the dock and blew her nose as Mark gave evidence against her.

The prosecution alleges that Darwin, a former doctor's receptionist, used "guile, convincing pretence, persistence and guts" to trick people into believing her husband had drowned and pull off a £250,000 con.

She denies the offences and and has put forward an unusual defence of "marital coercion" - claiming her husband forced her to go along with his plan.