Missing Canoeist Memory Loss

[Fake Vencar]

Missing canoeist 'has memory loss' | UK Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Missing canoeist 'has memory loss'

'A canoeist who turned up after being missing for five years cannot remember anything since June 2000, his sons said.


John Darwin, 57, disappeared after paddling out to sea off the coast near Hartlepool in March 2000, before he appeared at a London police station on Saturday to declare "I think I'm a missing person".


Sons Anthony and Mark said they were delighted to see him again but added that their father cannot remember anything since June 2000.


The sons said their mother Anne shared their delight at the news.


She is believed to be living in Panama after she sold the couple's seven-bedroom seafront house in Seaton Carew.'



I wonder what he was doing all this time? Seven years missing then comes back!

[Aleksei]

Crazy story.

[The Ace]

I wonder what the wife's really thinking after flogging the house and skipping the country with the proceeds.

[mosaix]

Possibly he wanted to just 'disappear' like John Stonehouse but things didn't quite turn out like he expected so he just 'came back'.

[tangaloomababe]

Amazing story. So you go missing for seven years but no idea what you have done in that time, surely you must have spoken with someone, worked somewhere, done something I am sure there will be more to this story!

[nj1]

Maybe he was abducted by aliens, those nasty little green men have been up to no good again. Maybe the authorities should check for an anl probe!

[Leisha]

Yes, I blame the aliens! Those nasty little blighters are always responsible. Watch out for the probes!

[Sephiroth]

Probes are certainly things you want to watch out for.

[Quokka]

This does sound a bit dodgey, I wonder if things weren't going well in his new life, so eventually he makes contact with his wife who promptly bails before he can show up to make things complicated (another report said she had only moved ~ 6 weeks ago). If he's got any chance of getting money or returning to his old life he has to come up with some sort of story?

Unfortunately The Bold and the Beautiful was on in the back ground when all of this was happening.

[Fake Vencar]

Ah, the police have got involved.

BBC NEWS | England | Tees | Police arrest 'missing canoeist'

Police arrest 'missing canoeist'

A man who reappeared five years after it was thought he drowned at sea while canoeing has been arrested.

'John Darwin was presumed dead after the remains of his canoe were found washed up on a beach in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, Teesside, in March 2002.

The 57-year-old walked into a London police station at the weekend, saying he did not remember where he had been.

Cleveland Police said a man had been arrested by Hampshire officers at their request but made no further comment.

Mr Darwin had been reunited with his sons, Anthony and Mark, who said he could not remember anything since June 2000.'




If he had been abducted by aliens, he could a clone

[Talysia]

Curiouser and curiouser. It'll certainly be interesting to find out what's really been going on here, assuming we ever find out.

[ice.monkey]

His story does sound dodgy. He claims he can't remember where he's been since his disappearance in 2002. But he remembers his life prior to that. Selective, convenient memory loss. Hmmm.

If during his absence he remembered his life prior to 2002 he would've come forward sooner. He would've gone back to his family. Unless he was trying to get away and in which case why would he come back now? Or unless he was detained or trapped somewhere. But then we're going with the Aliens theory (which is always a favourite).

But if it was a plan so that his wife could get the insurance money and then they live a life of riley in S. America, then it seems to be working.

[Locksmith]

Fraud probe launched as photo casts doubt on canoeist's story - Times Online

Certainly it may be difficult for him to explain the photo of him with his wife in Panama last year!

[Fake Vencar]

Well, thats screwed him up! My new guess it that he has been in the drugs industry over in Panama and decided he maybe didn't want to get involved anymore

[PTeppic]

Reports are now suggesting the police were tipped off with something 2-3 months ago and so were already re-investigating the "disappearance". His wife then emigrates and bang he shows up. Clever thing memory: he'd forgotten everything about where he's been for five years, except that he's missing, and sufficient details to identify himself. Am told it can happen.