BRITAIN:Back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife have reunited for the first time since he walked into a London police station and said he thought he was "a missing person".
Mr Darwin (57) and wife Anne (55) did not acknowledge each other as they sat together yesterday in the dock of courtroom 2 at Hartlepool Magistrates Court.
The couple had spent Christmas apart, remanded in custody at separate prisons.
The Darwins are jointly facing six charges of obtaining money by deception, totalling more than £250,000 (€335,543), from insurance and pension schemes.
Mr Darwin faces a separate charge of making false statements to procure a passport.
They both spoke only to confirm their names and ages during the brief hearing.
Mr Darwin, who wore a black leather jacket, cream jumper and blue shirt, listened intently, while his wife, who wore a blue sweatshirt, striped T-shirt and glasses, stood impassively.
The Darwins, who were flanked by two dock officers, were remanded in custody until January 18th by magistrates.
The couple's solicitors did not apply for bail and said their clients would not be entering pleas at this stage of the proceedings.
Mr Darwin disappeared after taking his canoe into the sea opposite his home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in March 2002.
A huge air and sea search failed to find any trace of his body and he was pronounced dead by police and a coroner the following year.
It has since been claimed that the former teacher and prison officer was living next door to his wife at her seaside home in Seaton Carew for much of the time he was thought to have been dead.
The mystery of Mr Darwin's disappearance started to unravel when days after he walked into the London police station on December 1st last year, a photograph emerged of Mr Darwin and his wife, formerly a doctor's receptionist.
The photograph appeared to show them in Panama, Central America, with a property agent.
The picture is said to have been taken in July 2006, more than three years after an open verdict on Mr Darwin's death was recorded.
Last month, detectives said the couple's two sons, Mark and Anthony Darwin, were never made aware that their father was still alive and they were innocent "victims" of the charade.