The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin has said he was living in their family home for three years after he was declared dead.
Anne Darwin, who is expected back in Britain this weekend, told reporters her husband hid in another part of the couple's house when their two sons visited as he was adamant they should not know the truth.
"For three years, while virtually everyone close to us believed John was missing presumed dead, he was actually at home with me," she said.
John Darwin leaves Hartlepool police station after appearing in court yesterday
Mr Darwin is currently in police custody after he was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of fraud. He disappeared from the couple's home in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, in March 2002 and was presumed drowned after his wrecked canoe was found. That was until he walked into a London police station last Saturday.
Cleveland Police have until late tonight to hold the 57-year-old former prison officer although officers yesterday said they will apply for more time if necessary. Mrs Darwin (55), is expected to be arrested when she returns to Britain.
She told reporters her husband had talked about faking his own death to escape debts. "We had a lot of debt, in the tens of thousands. He said there was only one way out of the situation and that was to fake his death," she said. "I said it was the wrong thing to do and could not go along with it but he badgered away."
But Mrs Darwin insisted she did not know he had gone ahead with the scam until he turned up on her doorstep 11 months after he went missing. She claimed he threatened to say she was involved from the start if she reported him to the authorities.
Mrs Darwin has previously said that she claimed on his life insurance "in good faith" but in today's report she admits she found out her husband was alive before the insurance companies paid out.
On the day of his inquest, she said her husband stayed in the bedsit because the couple's sons Mark and Anthony were staying with her. Mrs Darwin said she put the phone on loudspeaker if their sons called so her husband could listen in. She said he had a bedsit in the house next door which the couple also owned so he could escape if guests arrived. They applied for a passport and credit cards in the false name John Jones so Mr Darwin could look for a new home for the couple abroad, she said.
She said the couple bought an apartment in Panama and she moved there seven weeks ago. Her husband had been there longer and had to come back to England because, without a visa, he could not remain in Panama.
She said he told her he was going to hand himself in and say he had amnesia.
When news of Mr Darwin's reappearance first broke, Mrs Darwin feigned surprise but she admitted she had already known when a photo surfaced showing the couple in Panama last year.