The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe has sparked a major complaint from viewers, after ITV decided to repeat the 'canoe man' drama, little over a year after it first aired.
It was back in 2002 that Hartlepool man Darwin 'disappeared' after going out to sea in a canoe close to the home he shared with wife Anne. His disappearance, which was eventually called off with John presumed dead, was in fact a wicked scheme cooked up to fraudulently claim insurance, benefits and pension, to help with Darwin's escalating debt, which was rumoured to be in excess of £700,000.
While the whole North East coastline was scaled to look for Darwin, the reality was that he was actually hiding out in a property right next to the family home, with wife Anne fully aware he was in the property, as the couple lied to their sons. After John managed to et a fake passport, using a dead man's name, he fled to Panama, where Anne later joined him.
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