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Canoe wife Anne Darwin guilty

Jul 23 2008 By Matt McKenzie

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The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin was convicted today for her role in their £250,000 swindle.

Anne Darwin, 56, had claimed her ``domineering" husband forced her to go through with the plan to con insurance and pension companies by faking his death at sea.

But the jury at Teesside Crown Court rejected her defence and convicted her today of six counts of fraud and nine of money laundering after a seven day trial.

Darwin tricked everyone, including her sons Mark and Anthony, with ``superb aplomb", maintaining the lie for over five years while she and her former prison officer husband set up a new life in Panama.

But her defence of ``marital coercion" was undermined when the prosecution produced emails they sent each other.

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