The children of ‘back from the dead' canoeist John Darwin have expressed their anger and confusion at finding out they may have been duped by their parents, who were photographed together in Panama last year when their father was thought to be dead.

Anthony and Mark Darwin said they were shocked at the revelation, after their mother, Anne, confessed to reporters she had known that John, declared dead after disappearing on a canoeing trip in 2002, was alive.

“In the short space of time following our Dad’s appearance in London on Saturday, we have gone through a rollercoaster of emotion,” Anthony 29, and Mark, 31, said in a statement.

“From the height of elation at finding him to be alive to the depths of despair at the recent stories of fraud and these latest pictures - and the shock of being thrust into the media spotlight.

“If the papers’ allegations of a confession from our Mam are true then we very much feel that we have been the victims in a large scam.

“How could our Mam continue to let us believe our Dad had died when he was very much alive?”

The brothers said they had not spoken to either of their parents since Mr Darwin’s arrest, “and at this present time we want no further contact with them”.

Mr Darwin, a former prison officer, was declared dead in 2003 after going missing off the coast of Hartlepool in the north east of England the previous year.

He was arrested early yesterday on suspicion of fraud at Anthony’s house in Basingstoke, where he had been staying since walking into a London police station on the weekend and declaring: “I think I’m a missing person”.

This morning Mr Darwin, 57, who claims he has lost his memory, was declared medically fit for questioning and was being interviewed by Cleveland police this afternoon.

His sons said they also wanted answers. “We too want to know where he has been and what he has been doing,” they said. “We have been in constant contact with the police and will be helping them with their enquiries in any way we can.”

After releasing their statement the sons have now gone to ground.

According to his flatmates, Mark Darwin fled his north London home in the middle of the night, taking his laptop and leaving notes to his girlfriend, including instructions about how to get to London’s City airport.

The 31-year-old, who was due to start a new job this week, has not been seen by his flatmates since earlier in the week when he told them to pretend he had already moved out after the family became the subject of intense media attention when his father mysteriously reappeared.

Cleveland police said while the sons are not suspects, detectives do want to talk to them as witnesses in the case.

Mrs Darwin, 55, is facing questions about why she claimed on her husband’s life insurance and is facing possible extradition from Panama, where she moved six weeks ago.

When confronted with the photograph of her and her husband in a real estate office in Panama, apparently taken in June 2006, she confessed she had known her husband was alive.

In a newspaper interview Mrs Darwin said she would return from Panama to “face the music”.

"My sons are never going to forgive me,” she said. “They are going to hate me. It looks as though I am going to be left without a husband, a home or a family now.”

Mrs Darwin insisted her sons knew nothing about the situation and believed that their father had been dead until his reappearance on the weekend. “My family will be absolutely devastated by this,” she said.

“My sons knew nothing. They thought they had just got their Dad back and now he’s been whisked away. Now they are going to hate me.”

Cleveland police have issued a worldwide appeal for information about Mr Darwin and where he has been for the past five years. Anyone with information should call: 0207 158 0010.

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