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Briton's sons furious at apparent scam

The man's wife now says she's known he was alive for a while.

SEATON CAREW, England - Two brothers whose father turned up at a police station five years after disappearing said Thursday they were furious to learn their mother may have known he was alive and did not tell her sons.

John Darwin, 57, was declared dead after an apparent canoe accident in March 2002, but appeared Saturday at a police station in London claiming to have suffered amnesia.

He was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of faking his death, and police questioned him Thursday over a suspected life insurance scam.

Anne Darwin, who has been living in Panama, acknowledged she had kept in touch with her husband and hidden it from their children, British newspapers reported Thursday.

Anthony and Mark Darwin, who believed their father was dead, said they want no further contact with their parents if the reports are true.

Darwin's wife said in an interview published by the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror newspapers that she initially believed her husband had died in the North Sea in March 2002, when he was believed to have had a canoeing accident.

Investigators believe the couple communicated by telephone and applied for credit cards to fund a new life in South America, a police official said.

Inquiries into Darwin's whereabouts began several months ago when Anne Darwin was overheard by an acquaintance speaking to her husband on the phone, the official said.

[Last modified December 7, 2007, 02:23:42]