NationStates Jolt Archive

No, it's not the zombie apocalypse. Not yet anyway.
Police arrest 'missing canoeist'

John Darwin, 57, was presumed dead after the remains of his canoe were found on a beach in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, Teesside, in March 2002.

He walked into a London police station at the weekend saying he did not remember where he had been.

His arrest came as the Daily Mirror published a photo allegedly showing Mr Darwin and his wife, Anne, in Panama.

There has been no independent verification of the photograph, said to have been taken in an apartment rented through the firm Move to Panama, in 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7128196.stm

Insurance scam? I doubt it. I mean, what kind of idiot walks into a police station and claims amnesia?

Got himself busted for fraud, apparently.

No, it's not the zombie apocalypse. Not yet anyway.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7128196.stm

Insurance scam? I doubt it. I mean, what kind of idiot walks into a police station and claims amnesia?

Well, he seems to have remembered to take his wife with him to Panama. And from what I heard on the news, she remembered to cash in on his life insurance before she left for Middle America...

Well, he seems to have remembered to take his wife with him to Panama. And from what I heard on the news, she remembered to cash in on his life insurance before she left for Middle America...

Oh, he was in Panama with her?


Yeah, total scam.

No, it's not the zombie apocalypse. Not yet anyway.
What a disappointment... :(

I mean, what kind of idiot walks into a police station and claims amnesia?
The garden variety, run-of-the-mill, everyday, absolutely normal, omnipresent idiot?

Oh, he was in Panama with her?


Yeah, total scam.

Assuming that is them on the photo in Panama... *shrugs*

Well, he seems to have remembered to take his wife with him to Panama. And from what I heard on the news, she remembered to cash in on his life insurance before she left for Middle America...
Do have to wonder why he bothered going back to England if he was safely ensconced in Panama.
His wife didn't help matters by stating in an interview last year that, "His disappearance couldn't be a ruse, as that's completely unlike him." (or something similar - it was in today's paper so I can't link it)

Oh my. I guess we have to discount that then.

Why is it ppl who have committed a crime nearly always feel the need to draw attention to themselves by stating publicly they didn't do it? Don't they know it immediately makes everyone suspicious as to why they've stated such things?

Do have to wonder why he bothered going back to England if he was safely ensconced in Panama.
His wife didn't help matters by stating in an interview last year that, "His disappearance couldn't be a ruse, as that's completely unlike him." (or something similar - it was in today's paper so I can't link it)

Oh my. I guess we have to discount that then.

Why is it ppl who have committed a crime nearly always feel the need to draw attention to themselves by stating publicly they didn't do it? Don't they know it immediately makes everyone suspicious as to why they've stated such things?

They rarely state publicly that they didn't do it, per se. They're asked and say no.

They rarely state publicly that they didn't do it, per se. They're asked and say no.
yes and no.
I don't mean the ppl who are accused and asked. I meant those who haven't been accused making the suggestion and then denying it in the misguided belief that this will make ppl believe they're innocent.
Sometimes they're so eager to help the police (eg Ian Huntly) that it's obvious they're doing to it in order to deflect attention.
In this case (though admittedly I'm making a judgment call here without knowing the full facts) it appears she's made this statement in order to stop ppl thinking it (that his disappearance was a scam), but all it probably did was make ppl start thinking it. Had I read what she said last year that would have been my first thought, and I don't think I would have been a rare occurrence in doing so.

think about it: Ppl go missing all the time at sea. But how often do widows/widowers state 3 years after they've gone missing that their disappearance couldn't possibly be a scam, as it's 'totally unlike them'?

yes and no.
think about it: Ppl go missing all the time at sea. But how often do widows/widowers state 3 years after they've gone missing that their disappearance couldn't possibly be a scam, as it's 'totally unlike them'?

I'm thinking she didn't burst into a newspaper office and declare it. Someone might have brought up the possibility and she said "no, that couldn't have happened. It's completely unlike him" or whatever.

I'm thinking she didn't burst into a newspaper office and declare it. Someone might have brought up the possibility and she said "no, that couldn't have happened. It's completely unlike him" or whatever.
"It's completely unlike him to fake his death, every time he's died in the past it was entirely legit."
Because this man is Jesus, yes he is. Unfortunately, every time he dies it takes longer to come back.