The sons of the canoeist who "returned from the dead" five years after going missing, have been questioned by detectives but are not thought to be part of their parents' suspected insurance fraud, police said today.
Mark and Anthony Darwin were interviewed on Saturday about the reappearance of their father John (57) who turned up at a central London police station earlier this month five years after he vanished, believed drowned in a canoeing accident.
John Darwin and his wife, Anne, have both since been charged by detectives with two counts of deception by dishonestly claiming his life insurance money.
Police said detectives are satisfied after questioning that the couple's sons, who have said they want no further contact with their parents, are not suspects in the alleged plot.
"The result of these lengthy interviews was that there was nothing to suggest they are anything other than witnesses and of course witnesses in this case," a Cleveland Police spokeswoman said.
Anne Darwin (55) had reported her husband missing in 2002 when he failed to return home after canoeing in the North Sea near their home in Hartlepool. A few weeks later the shattered remains of his red kayak were discovered.
A coroner declared Darwin dead in 2003 after a police inquiry.