It seems there is something about the lure of the sea that makes a man to want to fake his own death. Former Labour MP John Stonehouse is making headlines again after he attempted to leave his family for a new life on Miami beach in 1974, as a new ITV series airs on television based on his disappearance.
But he isn't the only fraudster to come back from the dead after walking into water. John Darwin, 51, set off in a canoe in 2002 to pretend he'd died at sea - helping his wife collect £250,000 over five years. While it's never been confirmed, it is possible John's attempt to vanish was inspired by the ex-politician who failed 28 years before him.
How did John Stonehouse fake his own death?
When Stonehouse left a pile of clothes on a beach and disappeared, it was presumed the 49-year-old had drowned at sea or been eaten by sharks.
But the devoted family man had actually left behind his loving wife Barbara Smith and three young children for an affair with his secretary Sheila Buckley down under.
While police investigated his mysterious death, Stonehouse embarked on a new secret life with a dead man's passport.
Though his happy ending soon turned sour as Stonehouse was arrested by Australian police who mistook him for fugitive Lord Lucan.
The fraudster sought asylum in Mauritius and Sweden to avoid a trial in Britain, but was eventually returned to London by Scotland Yard detectives.
Stonehouse continued to act as MP for Walsall North from prison, before he was released on bail in August 1975 and gave a speech blaming a mental breakdown for his 'death'.
Then the following year, he was found guilty of various counts of theft, fraud and deception and jailed for seven years in Wormwood Scrubs.
The runaway politician finally resigned from Parliament and suffered three heart attacks and underwent open heart surgery during his time behind bars.
Though Stonehouse was released early for good behaviour in 1979 and Barbara divorced him, then two years later he married his mistress Sheila and had their son.
After attempting to turn his life around, he died of a heart attack at the age of 62 on April 14, 1988, in Southampton.
How did John Darwin fake his own death?
John, a former teacher and prison officer, decided the best way to dig himself out of a financial hole was with his sham death.
So in March 2002, he paddled out from Seaton Carew beach near Hartlepool and faked a canoeing accident, which sparked a massive search and rescue operation when Anne reported him missing.
She acted as a grieving widow, lying to the police as well as their family and friends, including their two sons who were convinced their dad was dead when his smashed up canoe was found.
Although John later admitted he did actually come close to losing his life for real while attempting the hoax.
While Anne collected £250,000 in life insurance pay-outs, her husband hit in a bedsit which the couple owned next door to the family home.
They made a door behind a wardrobe in Anne's bedroom and John even grew a bushy beard as a disguise so he could boldly make trips into town.
For years the couple used their ill-gotten gains to fly around the world in a bid to start a new life, eventually purchasing a £200,000 tropical estate in a village in Panama in May 2007.
Following a change in Panama's visa laws, John returned home to collect papers from the police and claimed he'd suffered from amnesia - but the pair were rumbled by a photograph obtained by the Mirror, which showed them in an estate agent's office.
John was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for admitting deception by faking his own death, while Anne received six-and-a-half years behind bars for fraud.
After being released in 2011, John and Anne divorced and he later remarried a Filipina bride named Mercidita, otherwise known as Mercy, who is 23-years his senior.
Now, his new life is a far cry from the one he dreamed of as the swindler helps to flog his market trader wife's clothes - though he still receives a UK state pension of around £134 a week.
Like Stonehouse, John's crimes were turned into a series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, without his permission.
Both men believed the mystery of the sea would help them escape their previous lives, but a clever plot wasn't enough to keep them in hiding.
