Fake death canoeist launches appeal

6:29pm Friday 5th September 2008

Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin has launched a bid to appeal against his sentence, his solicitor said.

The 58-year-old was jailed in July at Teesside Crown Court for six years and three months after admitting faking his own death in a canoeing accident to allow his wife Anne make fraudulent insurance and pension claims.

His solicitor, John Nixon, said he had made an application to the Court of Appeal for the right to challenge the sentence.

Mr Nixon said: "It is an application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

"An application will go before a single judge who will either grant leave to appeal or if that is refused, Mr Darwin will likely ask the full Court of Appeal for the right to be heard.

"It will happen on a date to be listed."

John and Anne Darwin carried out a "determined, sustained and sophisticated" £250,000 fraud, Mr Justice Wilkie said when he sentenced them.

They tricked the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their sons Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29.

The judge said the sons' lives were "crushed" by the deception, and that meant a severe sentence was necessary.

Mrs Darwin has already launched an appeal bid against both her conviction and the six-year, six-month sentence she received for her part in the elaborate plot.

Editor's choice