John Darwin misses father's funeral
BACK from the dead canoeist John Darwin missed his father’s funeral today.
The 58-year-old, jailed in 2008 for fraud, did not attend father Ronald’s funeral in St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, in Blackhall Colliery, County Durham.
The 90-year-old died on Christmas Eve in a nursing home after suffering a series of strokes, a source close to the family said.
The woman, who did not want to be named, added that Mr Darwin had been unable to see his son before his death.
“I don’t think you can be sad about someone dying in their 90s,” she said.
“I was able to go and see him before he died, and I’m glad I did, but I don’t think he saw his son again.
“He died on Christmas Eve in the night time. He had several serious strokes.”
After a short service, Mr Darwin’s coffin, draped in a Union Flag, was taken to Blackhall Cemetery to be buried in the bright winter sunshine.
Around 50 elderly mourners came to pay their respects to Mr Darwin, but his grandsons, Anthony and Mark Darwin, who disowned their father after his lies came to light, were not among them.
At the cemetery, there was a wreath made of red roses and white carnations, with a card that read: “To a loving father and loving grandfather, from all your family“, but no individual tribute from John Darwin.
Darwin, a former prison officer, was declared dead in 2003 after going missing off the coast of Hartlepool the previous year.
Five years later he walked into a London police station claiming to be suffering from amnesia.
But in the intervening five years, he hid in the next-door bedsit they owned, took on a false identity and then tried to start a new life in Panama after his wife cashed in a life assurance policy and paid off their mortgage.
After his reappearance, Mrs Darwin was traced to Central America and acted surprised at the discovery of her husband.
Her tale collapsed when a photograph of the couple smiling in a Panamanian estate agents surfaced on the internet.
She returned to the UK and was convicted of six fraud charges and nine counts of money laundering. Her husband admitted the charges, as well as falsely obtaining a passport, and was jailed for six years.
