Articles | Canoe trial jury set to retire

Jury out in canoe case

Published: Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 10:10AM

The jury has been sent out to consider its verdicts in the £250,000 fraud trial of Anne Darwin, the wife of the back-from-the-dead canoeist.

The 56-year-old admits helping her husband John carry out an elaborate plot to fake his death in a canoeing accident in the North Sea, duping their sons as well as insurers into believing he had drowned in March 2002.

But she denies six dishonesty charges and nine counts of money laundering, claiming her domineering husband forced her to break the law.

She put forward the unusual defence of "marital coercion", meaning he made her act against her will and was with her whenever an offence was committed.

Andrew Robertson QC, prosecuting, poured scorn on her story, telling the jury at Teesside Crown Court she repeatedly lied to make the facts fit her defence.

He said the couple were co-conspirators and equal partners in the plot.

David Waters QC, defending, painted a picture of Mr Darwin bullying his wife during their 30-year marriage, to the point where she could not resist him.

The court heard during six days of evidence how the couple were hurtling towards bankruptcy when the plan was hatched.

During his summing up, Mr Justice Wilkie told the jury that this was a "highly unusual case".

"Your task is to put aside emotional responses", he said.

The judge explained to the jury that they must first of all consider whether Mrs Darwin had committed each of the 15 offences, if they concluded that she had, they could then go on to consider the issue of marital coercion.