Police given extra time to question canoeist, and all I can think of is Harold Bishop.

Police were today granted a further 36 hours to question John Darwin, the canoeist who reappeared last weekend after going missing five years ago.

Cleveland police had until midday to interview Darwin but, at a closed hearing in Hartlepool, magistrates extended that deadline until midnight tomorrow.

Six weeks ago, his wife sold two houses near Hartlepool and moved to Panama. When reports of her husband’s reappearance surfaced at the weekend she claimed she was as surprised as anyone.

But when this picture emerged – taken in Panama City five years after her husband disappeared in 2002 – she admitted the deception. “I don’t want to live my life as a fugitive,” she said. “I’ll have to go back, because I won’t have any life here.” Her solicitor said she had left Panama, apparently with journalists from a tabloid newspaper, after the photograph appeared.

Anne Darwin admitted helping her husband start a new life in Panama, and said: “I have been living my life as a lie, constantly looking over my shoulder.” She insisted she had believed her husband was dead when he first disappeared in 2002, but would not reveal when she discovered the truth.

The Case of the Missing Canoeist so far:

• Darwin went missing after setting out by kayak near his home in Hartlepool.
• He was officially declared dead 13 months later.
• Last weekend, he walked into a London police station and told the desk sergeant: “I think I am a missing person.”
• He said he could not remember anything about the past five years.
• On Tuesday night, police arrested him on suspicion of fraud.

Story found @ Guardian Unlimited