The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin told a jury she wished her husband really had drowned.

Giving evidence at Teesside Crown Court, Anne Darwin said she had considered suicide as pressure mounted to maintain the lie of her husband’s faked death.

Mrs Darwin, 56, who denies deception and money-laundering charges, said she felt “hurt” for lying to her two sons.

She is accused of taking part in a plot to fraudulently claim £250,000 in pension and insurance funds.

The former doctor’s receptionist was asked about a time when her son Mark traveled from his home in Hampshire to comfort her and she flung her arms around him and said “he’s gone, I think, I have lost him”.

She admitted to the jury that she did remember doing that and conceded: “I had to make it look realistic and I was upset. I wanted everyone to think it was real.”

She admits she lied to the insurance company and she even lied to their sons, but she swears she wasn’t part of any fraud.

She must have one hell of a lawyer if they honestly think they can get anyone to believe her.

Here’s how events played out:
March 2002 - John Darwin is reported missing while canoeing at sea.
A couple of weeks later, his canoe washes up on a beach.
April 2003 - coroner records open verdict into John Darwin’s death.
Anne Darwin collects life insurance and pension policies worth about £250,000.
2007 - Anne Darwin moves to Panama
December 2007 - The late Mr. Darwin shows up at a police station and says he’s a missing person.
A photograph is published showing Anne and John Darwin together in Panama well before he turned himself in.
Both are charged with fraud.
John Darwin admits fraud, but his wife denies the charges
July 2008 - Anne Darwin’s trial starts on Teesside