The wife of a man presumed drowned in a canoeing accident more than five years ago has told British newspapers that a photo of them pictured together in Panama last year is genuine.
John Darwin was arrested this week on suspicion of fraud after walking into a London police station and telling officers he believed they might be looking for him.
Mr Darwin, 57, went missing in March 2002 during a canoeing trip within sight of his home in Seaton Carew near Hartlepool, in northeast England.
After he reappeared, tanned and in good health, the former prison officer said he had no memory of events since 2000.
His wife Anne, 55, sold her home and left Britain for central America with £450,000 (€625,000) shortly before his shock reappearance.
A property company website carries a photo that apparently shows her with her 'dead' husband pictured in a Panama apartment last year.
When shown the photo, Mrs Darwin confirmed that the man in it was her husband. She said: 'Yes, that's him. My sons will never forgive me.'
'They knew nothing. They thought John was dead. Now they are going to hate me,' she said.
Several other newspapers reported her confirming that the photo was genuine and describing her life as a nightmare.
She said she now planned to return to Britain as she did not want to live as a fugitive.
The mystery began in 2002 when she reported him missing, saying it was feared he had suffered an accident while kayaking in the North Sea near their home in Hartlepool in northern England.
Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson, who is probing the case, said the sea had been calm the day he disappeared and despite extensive searches involving aircraft, lifeboats and a Royal Navy ship, no trace was found of him.
A few weeks later the shattered remains of his red kayak was discovered. Following a police inquiry in 2003, a coroner declared him dead.
Supt Hutchinson said officers had received a tip-off three months ago that indicated there might be something suspicious about his disappearance.
'There is at one side the potential he's suffered amnesia for five and a half years right to the other end of the scale whereby there has been some criminal offences committed,' he said, adding it was not clear why Mr Darwin had turned himself in.
