Runaway canoe man John Darwin is being tapped into an unlikely new role – as an assistant to his second wife’s social media influencer.
The infamous fraudster, who faked her own death to cash in on her life insurance policy, makes several appearances on Marcy Darwin’s social media pages.
His new wife describes herself as a ‘digital creator’ on her profile, and videos in which she co-stars Darwin are getting dozens of likes.
A vlog shows denim hotpants-clad Marcy, 49, dancing around father-of-two John, 72, in the living room of their home in the Philippines.
Dressed in a short pair of shorts and a white T-shirt – and with a bandage covering his ears – John appeared as his wife sang to him and rubbed his chest.
Fugitive canoe man John Darwin is being tapped into an unlikely new role – as an assistant to his second wife’s social media influencer.
When father-of-two John Darwin (pictured left with his wife Anne in Panama in 2006) disappeared in his canoe in the sea outside his home in County Durham in 2002, his own sons believed he was dead. Right: How Darwin looked after faking his death
Another video shows the couple holding a hot water bottle between their heads and smiling while an upbeat tune plays in the background. The videos are the first since John’s story was dramatized in the acclaimed ITV series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe last year.
Actor Eddie Marsan played the conman while actress Monica Dolan played his ex-wife Anne Darwin in the four-episode drama.
A source said: ‘Despite everything that has happened, the pair are clearly keen for the attention.
‘John’s two sons, who have already suffered so much, will cry when they see these videos.’
John originally made headlines in December 2007 when he claimed to be suffering from amnesia at London’s West End Central Police Station.
Suspicions were raised when it emerged he was £700,000 in debt when he disappeared five years ago.
And an estate agent’s photo later proved that John and his wife Anne had been secretly living in Panama, Central America, since 2006.
They bought the £200,000 property in 2007 using John’s life insurance money.
His new wife describes herself as a ‘digital creator’ on her profile, and videos in which she co-stars Darwin are getting dozens of likes.
Another video shows the couple holding a hot water bottle between their heads and smiling while a cheerful tune plays in the background.
Actor Eddie Marsan played the conman while actress Monica Dolan played his ex-wife Anne Darwin in the four-part ITV drama The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe last year.
But the couple hit a snag when it turned out he had to pass a strict identity test to get a Panamanian visa.
Once he returned to England, the scandal began to unfold. The police discovered that John had faked his own death by paddling his canoe into the North Sea and then disappearing.
He was declared missing when he failed to return to his prison job and – as his body was never found but the wreckage of his canoe turned up – he was presumed dead.
The truth was that for years John had been hiding in a rented property next to the family home in Seaton Carew, County Durham.
Desperately, Anne told their two grown sons, Mark and Anthony, that she was dead, a cruel lie for which they apparently never forgave her.
After the truth is revealed, John is arrested for obtaining life insurance money by fraud and false statements.
Ann returns from Panama and is accused of fraud. Both pleaded guilty to fraud on July 23, 2008. John was given six years and three months, Anne six years and six months.
John was released in January 2011 (pictured in 2014) and had an online romance with Marcy in 2015.
John was released in January 2011 and Anne two months later, and they eventually divorced John, citing ‘unreasonable behaviour’.
He struck up an online romance with Marcy in 2015 and they now live together in the Philippines, where he sublets a property and a clothes stall, according to reports.
Ann wrote a book called ‘Out of My Depth’ about what happened and always insisted that her ex was the so-called mastermind behind the fraud.
Speaking in 2016, she explained: ‘John can also be persuasive. He told me, “I need to disappear for a few weeks and we’ll have the money.” It got out of control.
‘The deeper you go into this situation, the harder it is to get out. If I had any idea it would have lasted more than a few weeks, I would have gone with it and not gone through years of torture.
‘But once it happened, and he made me lie that he was going to disappear, I couldn’t get out of it.’