NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES STARRING MONICA DOLAN (AS ‘CANOE WIDOW’ ANNE DARWIN) AND EDDIE MARSAN
How did the most ordinary of couples pull off one of the most outrageous frauds of modern times? And why did they carry on with the lie for so long?
Drowning in debt and facing almost certain bankruptcy, John Darwin did the unthinkable – he paddled out to sea in his red canoe and disappeared. After a massive search and rescue operation failed to find his body, he was assumed dead, lost in the bleak North Sea.
But everything was far from what it seemed.
Nearly six years later, after John miraculously returned from the dead with a strange tale of ‘amnesia’ and sporting a suspicious golden tan, the police and the Press were desperate to discover the truth behind his remarkable resurrection.
Journalist David Leigh was despatched to Panama, where he tracked down John’s wife, Anne Darwin, who had started a secretive new life with the insurance money claimed from her husband’s ‘death’. But what lay behind her decision to move to Central America, thousands of miles away from her family and friends? The truth would gradually unravel during an astonishing week of jaw-dropping revelations.
The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of this true story of audacious deception and coercion, offering an unprecedented insight into a mind-boggling story that gripped the nation – and into the inscrutable minds of ‘Canoe Man’ John and Anne Darwin, his long-suffering partner in crime.
Perfect for fans of ITV true crime dramas such as Quiz, Des, Manhunt and The Pembrokeshire Murders
How did the most ordinary of couples pull off one of the most outrageous frauds of modern times? And why did they carry on with the lie for so long?
Drowning in debt and facing almost certain bankruptcy, John Darwin did the unthinkable – he paddled out to sea in his red canoe and disappeared. After a massive search and rescue operation failed to find his body, he was assumed dead, lost in the bleak North Sea.
But everything was far from what it seemed.
Nearly six years later, after John miraculously returned from the dead with a strange tale of ‘amnesia’ and sporting a suspicious golden tan, the police and the Press were desperate to discover the truth behind his remarkable resurrection.
Journalist David Leigh was despatched to Panama, where he tracked down John’s wife, Anne Darwin, who had started a secretive new life with the insurance money claimed from her husband’s ‘death’. But what lay behind her decision to move to Central America, thousands of miles away from her family and friends? The truth would gradually unravel during an astonishing week of jaw-dropping revelations.
The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of this true story of audacious deception and coercion, offering an unprecedented insight into a mind-boggling story that gripped the nation – and into the inscrutable minds of ‘Canoe Man’ John and Anne Darwin, his long-suffering partner in crime.
Perfect for fans of ITV true crime dramas such as Quiz, Des, Manhunt and The Pembrokeshire Murders
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Reviews
The riveting, jaw-dropping, brilliantly-told story of a barely believable crime that exposes the shocking depths to which some people will plunge for money.
The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe tells the story of surely the most outrageous fraud of modern times - and my favourite kind of drama is when the outrageous comes from the prosaic. As breath-taking as their pulling this deception off in the first place, is how spectacularly the couple wrecked it for themselves as soon as they had got away with it.
David Leigh steers us masterfully through one of the most enthralling true crime stories I have ever read.