"Missing" canoeist couple facing extra charges

LONDON (Reuters) - A man who "returned from the dead" after apparently being lost at sea in a canoeing accident five years ago will face extra charges, as will his wife, Cleveland Police confirmed Tuesday.

John Darwin, 57, and his wife Anne, 55, will face additional charges of obtaining money by deception when they appear before Hartlepool Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, a spokesman said.

The pair already face charges of deception by dishonestly claiming his life insurance money.

Anne Darwin, who was arrested following her return from Panama where she had recently moved, is charged with dishonestly obtaining 25,000 pounds by money transfer and dishonestly obtaining 137,000 pounds by money transfer.

Her husband is further charged with making a false declaration to get a passport.

He walked into a London police station in December claiming amnesia after apparently drowning at sea in a canoeing accident five years ago, sparking days of international media coverage.

The couple's sons, who are not suspects, have said they want no further contact with their parents after their mother revealed a photo of her and her husband taken together in Panama last year was genuine.

Anne Darwin had reported her husband missing in 2002 when he failed to return home after canoeing in the North Sea near their home in Hartlepool, in the North East.

A few weeks later the shattered remains of his red kayak were discovered. A coroner declared Darwin dead in 2003 after a police inquiry.

(Reporting by Andrew Hough. Editing by Luke Baker)