Timeline of how the John Darwin conman saga unfolded

John Darwin after he returned to the UK and claimed he had amnesia.

March 22, 2002. The remains of the canoe are found washed up on the beach in Seaton sparking a massive search involving police and coastguard. Darwin is not found.

April 10 2003. An open verdict is recorded at his inquest. John is later declared dead allowing Anne to claim £250,000 insurance money.

2003-2006. John secretly lived in an adjacent bedsit in Seaton for about three years. He entered the family home from the bedsit through a secret hole in the wall that was hidden behind a wardrobe with a false back.

July 2006. John and Anne flew from Newcastle to Panama where they were photographed by a property agent. The picture would later blow open the scam after it was printed in a national newspaper after Darwin’s return.

December 1, 2007. John Darwin walks into a Central London police station claiming to have amnesia saying: “I think I’m a missing person”. His two sons believed he was dead.

March 13, 2008. John Darwin pleads guilty to seven charges of obtaining cash by deception and a passport offence. Anne Dawrin denies six charges of deception and nine of using criminal property.

July 23, 2008. John is jailed for six years and three months for fraud. Anne Darwin was jailed for six and a half years after she was found guilty of deception and money laundering.

January 2011. John Darwin is released from prison on parole after serving less than half of his sentence.

March 2011. Anne is released from prison after serving just under two years and eight months of her sentence.

September 2011. In an exclusive interview with the Hartlepool Mail, Darwin said “desperate times” led him to concoct the scam. He said: “I took money from an insurance company, but I didn’t kill anyone.”

December 2011. John Darwin appears on national TV with Lorraine Kelly.

December 2013. John Darwin was jailed for 28 days for breaching his parole conditions by flying to Ukraine to meet a 25-year-old blonde he met on the internet.

April 2014. John returned to court for a confiscation hearing. At that time he had paid back just £121 out of £679.073

June 2015. John hit the headlines after it was reported he had married a Filipino woman half his age following a whirlwind romance.

July 2015. The Crown Prosecution Service said it had recovered £40,000 from John Darwin bringing the total regained from him and ex-wife Anne to £541,762.

January 2016. Darwin is reported to be living new life selling T-shirts as a market trader in the Philippines.