John Darwin’s wife admitted last night that she had received life insurance payments after assuming that her husband was dead.

Anne Darwin, who emigrated to Panama City six weeks ago, said she knew she might have to give back the money after he returned from the dead at the weekend.

The former doctor’s receptionist said that she was “as amazed as anyone” to discover that Mr Darwin was alive, describing the news of his reappearance as “the moment I always prayed for”.

Denying that she ever considered the idea that he may have faked his death, she said: “John just wouldn’t have done that. If there were problems, we talked about them.”

She said that she claimed the life insurance payout “in good faith when I believed I had lost my husband”.

Referring to the possibility that the payments may now have to be returned, Mrs Darwin said: “If that happens, of course it won’t be easy but I’ll deal with it. It’s not the money I ever wanted — it was having my husband back. It took a long time for the insurance company to pay me and I’m sure they’ll be looking closely at the situation.”

Mrs Darwin, 55, added: “We have so much to talk about, so many things to try and sort out. I want to see John and my family and try and see if I can put the pieces of my life back together again.” The mother of two said that she had spoken to her husband on the telephone three times since Saturday night, when her son phoned her and said: “I’m sitting here with Dad.”

She said last night of the first conversation: “He sounded a bit strange. There was something a bit different about his voice. But there I was, speaking to my husband. It was the day I had always dreamt about but never really believed would happen.”

Unresolved problems relating to her Panama visa meant that she could not immediately visit him in Britain, Mrs Darwin said. She told the Daily Mail: “As soon as everything is sorted out, of course I’ll be straight back”. Mrs Darwin hopes that her husband will join her in Panama: “I really don’t want to live in England any more. I don’t like the cold, but whether John will want to come here remains to be seen.”

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