Police today froze the assets of John and Anne Darwin under the Proceeds of Crime Act in an attempt to recover hundreds of thousands of pounds the couple stole as part of their extraordinary canoeing death scam.

Darwin, 57, and his wife, 56, hatched their audacious plot to beat financial ruin. It involved the former schoolteacher feigning his death in a boating accident and the couple claiming £250,820.75 in life insurance and pensions payouts and moving to Panama.

Their “determined, sustained and sophisticated” fraud - which was completely concealed from their devastated children Mark, 32, and Anthony, 29 - ended yesterday at Teesside Crown Court where Darwin was jailed for six years and three months and his wife for six-and-a-half years.

The couple used the money to pay off the hefty mortgage on their large marital home and portfolio of rental properties.

Anne Darwin's performance of a lifetime

Trial for fraud and money-laundering revealed an elaborate five-year-long deceit that fooled many people

Multimedia

• The police tapes

• Pictures: the great canoe fraud

Background

• John Darwin's money-making schemes

• Canoe man and Bond boost Panama tourism

• Darwin wife: I wished he had drowned

Related Links

• Judge: 'Darwin sons were real victims'

• Anne Darwin's performance of a lifetime

• 'Despicable' canoe couple sent to jail

However, after Darwin walked into a London police station in December last year - pretending not to remember who he was, and inadvertently exposing their plot - officers began unravelling the couple's complicated finances in Panama.

Police believe that, at the time the Darwins were arrested last December, their assets were worth £500,000 - the equivalent of US$1 million in Panama. Today, all of those assets were frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Act, as police started the process of getting the money back.

A key part of their assets was an apartment in Panama City, which Mrs Darwin had bought for $56,000 (£28,000). She also spent $389,789 (£198,000) on land to build a canoeing centre for tourists.

Darwin was known to have a love of large cars, and the couple drove around in a $45,000 (£23,000) Toyota Land Cruiser in Panama.

There were also two bank accounts in Panama containing $319 (£160) and $220 (£110) respectively, a Yorkshire Bank account with £2,300, two HSBC bank accounts holding £60 and £550, and two HSBC bank accounts in Jersey with $1,800 (£900) and $100 (£50).

Detective Inspector Andy Greenwood, who led the inquiry into the couple, said: “Any reasonable person who finds themselves in the Darwins’ position would sell their properties to realise the debt.

“Instead they hatched this plot. Mr and Mrs Darwin liked to portray themselves as well-to-do and it was an image that they found difficult to move away from. It would have been very easy for them to put their properties up for sale.”

He said police were already starting the process of getting the money back and a worldwide order is in place freezing the couple’s assets.

“We will pursue them through the Proceeds of Crime Act. All of the life they have built in Panama has been on the back of criminal activity,” said Mr Greenwood.

Meanwhile, two insurance companies - Unat Direct and Norwich Union - have started legal proceedings against the couple for the sums they defrauded.

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