Would you fake your death and go into hiding for five years just so your wife can claim your life insurance?

Not that I'm suggesting that anybody has done such a thing.

this happens on murder she wrote

i'm telling you, this guy was a british assassin

i hear Panama's nice this time of year.

I once had a cab driver tell me in great detail about his plan to hire someone to shoot him on the job -- make it look like a botched robbery -- so his wife could get the insurance. I wasn't entirely clear on whether the wife was meant to be in on this.

Incidentally that information was at the end of a very long and medically detailed response to the following question: "So do you prefer having the minivan cab, instead of the sedan?"

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

how much could they have had on the policy? it sounds a bit much, to me, just to get a few score thou.

Is this to do with that bristisher who has just appered out of nowhere with no memory, in a startling resemblance to that Neighbours storyline where Harold emerged from the ocean and wasn't dead after all?

yes

Okay all well and good but surely the plan would be

Fake death.
Hide.
Wife claims money.
Wife moves to Panama.
Once dust has settle change appearance go to Panama.
Where does, reappear in a police station claiming memory loss fit in?

Only guess is they knew the game was up and this is some attempt at a cover up.

-they knew game up or
-he couldn't hack it

That seems to be the explanation, yeah, haven't the police come out and said they've been recently been re-investigating the case for a while?

Also, not easy to claim money, as without a body it can take up to seven years to get a death certificate, and you can't claim the insurance without a death certificate.

"ONE MILLION DOLLARS"

i never saw the episode where Harold emerges from the ocean. i hope was covered in barnacles and seaweed.

apparently it *usually* takes seven years. but an exception was made?!?!

If Hollywood has taught me anything, it's that these schemes are always A REALLY SMART IDEA.

I forget if Harold actually really walked out of the sea but I think he did. He'd been in tasmania or something roffleworthy. Total sharkjump moment, but in a horribley awesome way.

yeah KATHLEEN TURNER might not be the best lifetime option in seven years

the insurance thing is a cover-up. he was in the secret service.

I'd say good advice is: If you are doing this, do not pose for a nice photo, smiling, and that.

-they knew game up or
-he couldn't hack it

-- That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 23:07 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Third option: he actually did suffer amnesia and screwed the whole thing up that way.

i never saw the episode where Harold emerges from the ocean. i hope was covered in barnacles and seaweed.

hahaha i want you to write for Neighbours from now on.

She's said she claimed the insurance 'honestly believing he was dead' or something; did he fake his death on his own, move to Panama, then contact her later all hush-hush - 'still alive, honey, come with to Panama'? The kids 'are going to hate (her)'. Most amusing. Emma had initially surmised that she'd had him locked in the basement for five years.

"Most amusing" meaning "foreshadowing my future", there.

Third option: he actually did suffer amnesia and screwed the whole thing up that way.

-- Dom Passantino, Thursday, 6 December 2007 09:24 (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Actually, that would be truly wonderful. Sneaks back into the country on some errand, walking down the street, suddenly can't remember anything from the last 7 years, so thinks "I know, I'll ask a policeman!"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7130046.stm

Absolutely hilarious...

""Yes, that's him. My sons will never forgive me.

"They knew nothing. They thought John was dead. Now they are going to hate me."

loooool

"Yes, I did. And that was the nightmare I lived through."

?

How did the Mirror get the photo?

"mad world"

Stop Snitchin' campaign hasn't reached Panama

taken from a holiday firm's website would seem.

IT would seem.

Ok, I screwed that up - this is the link...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/12/06/canoe-wife-anne-darwin-i-knew-husband-was-alive-89520-20209991/

Great pic - Staring in shock at the picture of her smiling with "dead" husband John, Anne Darwin knew yesterday that her desperate deceit had come home to roost.

Panama, Expat; Anne Darwin bulletin board
Hi - I'm a BBC journalist in the North of England and am trying to find a lady called Anne Darwin who moved to Panama about 6-7 weeks ago. ...
board.classifieds1000.com/Panama/Expat/Anne_Darwin - Similar pages - Note this

Panama, Expat; John and Anne Darwin bulletin board
I am a UK national newspaper reporter keen to speak to anyone who knows or knew British ex-pats John and Anne Darwin in Panama. We pay well for information ...
board.classifieds1000.com/Panama/Expat/John_and_Anne_Darwin - Similar pages - Note this

Ha, I'll bet you are...

Hi, I'm a IT cnosultant in the south of England, I would very much like to find Anne Darwin for an article I'm researching. Failing that, a Nintendo wii for the kids.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44281000/jpg/_44281291_mirrorpage.jpg
CANOE ARE YOU!
CANOE OE
OE OE
I want new CSI theme music plz k thx

CANOE is the new ROO when it comes to headlines

Knocked both Diana and Maddy off the DE front page!

omg there was a free 500-piece jigsaw in the Mirror ?

Canoe's taken little Maddy?
Canoe was behind sinister Diana plot?
Canoe do you think you're kidding Mr Hitler?

Is Morrissey a Canoeist?

Canoe feel it, canoe feel it, CANOE FEEL IT?

DIANA CANOEDLED WITH DODI BEFORE CRASH

http://www.carling.com/media/player_images/player-image-18443.jpg

TS: Faking your death v lying about your age

stupidest. bastards. ever.

story of the year.

Latest theory seems to be: Husband gets his own back on wife after she left him to go live in Panama leaving him nothing as it's all in her name. Apart from one thing. The ability to drop her in it.

Yes, but we're getting a bit too clever here

Oh yeah, Palindrome, sorry.

pseudo-intellectualism in tabloid = daily mirror

grout you didn't know that was a palindrome? it's one of the fundamentals!

A MAN, A PEON, A CANOE - PANAMA!!!!!!!!

YAY!

Get that man a Peon!

... this would work if there was kinda Mexican peasant involved in the story somewhere

By the time they've got Julie Walters on board, there will be.

... or indeed a gorilla

A MAN, APE ON A CANOE, PANAMA!

awe

This film script is coming together nicely

I'm hearing gruff trailer voice man saying

A MAN, APE ON A CANOE, PANAMA!

Ape played by Jimmy Nail

It's a Julie Walters/Mighty Boosh tie-in.

It has a "Life of Pi" quality to it, I feel

Julie Walters can't kyackt to save her life.

Husband played by that dude out of Keeping Up Appearances.

There's a dude in Keeping up Appearances?

Clive Swift!

http://www.tvheaven.ca/snap604.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44281000/jpg/_44281946_darwin_cleveland_polic.jpg

Anton Rodgers would be a shoo in for the John Darwin role, but he died the other day.

Or did he?

http://dynimg.rte.ie/0000794510dr.jpg

keeping up disappearances amirite?

A MAN, APE ON A CANOE, PANAMA!

^ genius!

These people are idiots, aren't they. I mean, seriously brainless. V V entertaining though.

Did you all see the "in-flight" footage, courtesy of the Daily Mirror, this morning?

i'm bored of this story now

if he had madeleine all along, this could really grow some legs though.

Just watched it, LOL! (xxpost)

Fake death.
Hide.
Wife claims money.
Wife moves to Panama.
Once dust has settled change appearance go to Panama.
Where does, reappear in a police station claiming memory loss fit in?

this is the part i've been wondering, too. i haven't been following this very closely so i'm sure this line of speculation has already been spelled out in big bold pencil.

Maybe Diana's car was hit by a canoe in that tunnel? Did someone check his canoe for mercedes scratch marks?

didn't the insurance payment only just go through though, like in the past couple of months? coincidence?

and the police have recently been 'investigating' the case, which might explain his sudden appearance now.

Basically, they (or at least the wife) have been the subject of a police investigation for a while now, also he has popped up in a publicity photo for an Panamanian estate agency which has kind of scuppered his "hiding" plan, so the theory is probably "shit, the game's a bogey, better think of a plan B". And this "I have no idea what's been going on" is it. It's really not a terribly clever plan B, is it?

these people are amazingly thick.

the other day i read that the photo was found by a random person who'd read about the story typing "john anne panama" into google.

It was certainly in the Daily Mirror very quickly. That guy certainly earned his finder fee!

certainly did.

it really looks like they panicked when the game was up, and went for the worst double bluff ever.

Here's the story...
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/dailynews/2007/12/06/how-woman-found-darwin-picture-89520-20210298/

For some reason that doesnt work...try this

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/dailynews/2007/12/06/how-woman-found-darwin-picture-89520-20210298/

Hold on that's the same...but I've just been reading it!

Weird. Anyway it says this...

The woman who uncovered the picture of missing John Darwin with his wife found it with a simple search on Google.

She typed in the words John, Anne and Panama, clicked on images and up it popped - complete with date.

The single mum, who does not want to be named, said: "I'd like to nominate them for 'World's Dumbest' awards.

"Not only were they photographed but the date was actually on the picture. It was just too good to be true."

The photo of John and Anne was taken in July 2006 for a "Move to Panama" website. It has now been removed.

After finding the picture, the mum said: "I just blinked - and there they were. I rang police in Cleveland. The man on the other end said, 'You're joking'!"

The mum began searching the internet after becoming suspicious about the story.

She said: "I'm a sceptic. Nobody can simply vanish in this day and age. There has to be something, some sign. I was determined to solve this mystery. I like proving things to myself."

A year after John Darwin disappeared, his death was officially registered. It usually takes seven years for a missing person to be declared dead unless there are "compelling circumstances".

Because he vanished at sea, his death was recorded on April 28, 2003, as a certified copy of entry in the Marine Register. It states he died on March 21, 2002, in the sea near North Gare, Hartlepool.

Hartlepool coroner Malcolm Donnelly carried out an inquest in April 2003 and recorded an open verdict.

He said: "I can recall other inquests that have been carried out without a body having been recovered over the past 10 years.

"But to have a man actually turn up alive after such a long period of time is unprecedented in this jurisdiction."

The single mum...

Nice detail.

it's a problem with the url parser, it doesn't link the closing /

I see.

The picture they have with the article is great too...
http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/m3/feb2007/8/6/E884369F-B010-E089-4F70368E21749DAF.jpg

LOL

From the Mirror to-day...

Her six-man police escort, some with sub-machine guns and wearing protective vests, led her along an airbridge and off to a police station at Manchester International Airport.

Were they expecting trouble?

The Sun's predictable headline on Saturday :

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article560929.ece

Yesterday Anne told how the couple were heavily in debt in 2002 - looking after 12 houses they rented out in County Durham

If the fake death was to clear their debts, couldn't they just have sold one or more of their 12 houses instead??

Haha...their puns really are the worst.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00401/SNN0814GX1-384_401626a.jpg

Hubby squatter and the chamber
of secrets ... how it would have looked

The Sun's predictable headline on Saturday :

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00401/SNN0814GX1-384_401626a.jpg

The Express used it the day before.

Was it really just £25,000 they claimed? I mean, that's quite a lot of money, but not enough to fake your death over.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7136798.stm

"the canoe wife"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7504727.stm

Snakes on a plane!