LONDON - A husband and wife who faked the man's drowning death in a US$500,000 insurance scam have each been sentenced to more than six years in jail.

A judge sentenced Anne Darwin, 56, to six and a half years. She was found guilty earlier in the day of six counts of fraud and nine counts of money laundering.

Her husband John Darwin, 57, who had pleaded guilty, received six years and three months.

The couple staged John Darwin's death in an apparent canoe accident in 2002 to collect pension and insurance payments.

The amount involved was 250,000 pounds, or $500,000.

Anne Darwin had acknowledged that she helped her husband stage his death, but insisted she had been coerced.

John Darwin was declared dead in 2003, the year after he was reported missing after going for a paddle in the North Sea near his home in northeast England.

Prosecutors said the couple kept the truth that he was alive secret even from their two adult sons while they planned to start a new life together in Panama.

The plot began to unravel last December when Darwin walked into a London police station claiming to have amnesia.

John Darwin pleaded guilty in March to deception and fraud.

LIKE IT?  LET OTHERS KNOW

Thanks for participating!

Be the first to recommend - Sign in now


See what other people are recommending - Popular Stories