LONDON — British police arrested man on fraud charges Wednesday, five years after he vanished in an apparent canoeing accident in the North Sea — only to reappear last weekend, claiming he had amnesia.
The Daily Mirror tabloid, meanwhile, claimed that the man, 57-year-old John Darwin, and his wife, Anne, had been seen together in Panama since his disappearance and published what it said was a photo of them there.
The Daily Mirror and The Sun newspapers carried interviews with Anne Darwin, who moved recently to Panama, quoting her as saying she claimed her husband's life insurance benefits in good faith, believing he was dead.
Police Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson, leading an investigation in Cleveland, northern England, said police were trying to piece together where Darwin had been for the last five years and issued a public appeal for information on his whereabouts.
"There will be people out there who will know exactly where he has been, what he has been doing and where he has been living," Hutchinson said.
Detectives are considering the possibility of extraditing Anne Darwin, 55, from Panama to be questioned in Britain.
John Darwin had been working as a prison officer when he disappeared after going out into the North Sea in his canoe, which was later found wrecked on a beach. A coroner officially declared him dead.
But on Saturday, Darwin walked into a London police station, saying he had lost his memory.
The Sun quoted Anne Darwin as saying, the insurance benefits "were claimed in good faith when I believed I had lost my husband. ... Of course there is a possibility they may now have to be repaid. It is one of the many things I am struggling to come to terms with."
The Daily Mirror said its photo shows the Darwins in Panama last year when they stayed in an apartment rented through the firm Move to Panama. The newspaper ran a photo that it said was taken in July 2006, which appears to show them with the firm's boss Mario Vilar.
Vilar said they had not used the surname Darwin.
Anne Darwin was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying that she received money from her husband's life insurance policies after he disappeared, but she denied that he faked his disappearance due to financial problems.
She was quoted as saying she had not seen him since he disappeared and that his reappearance last weekend was "the moment I've always prayed for."
"I'm as amazed as anyone else," she said before her husband's arrest.
Anne Darwin said her relatives were shocked when she moved to Panama City six weeks ago after selling the couple's home in Seaton Carew, 250 miles north of London.
She said she had spoken on the phone to her husband this week and planned to return to Britain to see him once she had resolved some visa problems and her furniture had been delivered from Britain.
If she were to face charges in the case, Britain has an extradition treaty with Panama, the Home Office said.
In England, Darwin's aunt, Margaret Burns, 80, told reporters the truth may be established "if we wait a bit."
"What's the point in speculating when we don't know? I'm as intrigued as anybody about what happens next," Burns said.
"Most of the family believe the trauma of nearly drowning in the canoe was enough to make him lose his memory, but I'm not so sure. I'm a cynic now. To be honest I don't believe he ever got his feet wet."
Associated Press correspondent Juan Zamorano contributed from Panama City.