Gone 5 Years

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:00 pm

Missing British canoeist turns up five years on: police wrote:LONDON (AFP) - A canoeist who disappeared more than five years ago and was presumed dead turned up at a police station in London at the weekend, very much alive and in good health, police said Monday.

The remains of John Darwin's canoe was found washed up on a beach at Seaton Carew, northeast England, in March 2002.

A widespread search for the then-51-year-old prison officer was mounted but yielded nothing. His wife, Anne, said six months after his disappearance that she could not move on without his body being found.

She has since moved abroad, according to media reports.

But on Saturday, father-of-two Darwin appeared at a police station in the heart of London's theatre district. His family have been informed but police are baffled as to where he had been.

"The guy can't remember anything about what's happened or why he's come forward," inspector Helen Eustace at West End Central police station was quoted as saying by the Evening Standard newspaper.

"He has no memory at all. He has obviously been somewhere for the last five years and a lot of questions need answering... We have no account of what's happened in the last five years.

"He walked into a police station and said, 'I think I am a missing person'."

Darwin's brother David told the Daily Mail newspaper: "All the family is so relieved that John is alive.

"It is the best Christmas present any family could wish for."

Darwin's 90-year-old father Ronald told the Evening Standard: "I always said to the police that there might be more to this than it appeared at first.

"When his canoe was found but he wasn't, it didn't seem right."

So, Alien Abduction or Dimensional Anamoly?

Bert_the_Turtle · Post by **Bert_the_Turtle** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:09 pm

Maybe he was mind wiped :roll:

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:12 pm

What is it with you and the mind wiping all of a sudden? Got a guilty conscience?

Bert_the_Turtle · Post by **Bert_the_Turtle** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:15 pm

This is not the Turtle you are looking for.

*Waves his hand mysteriously*

Shadowstalker · Post by **Shadowstalker** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:50 pm

Jedi you are not. *Smacks a Turtle upside his head with Star Wars book.* Ok I do a lousy Yoda.

Bert_the_Turtle · Post by **Bert_the_Turtle** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:48 pm

KT does a pretty good Yoda.

DroopyDawg · Post by **DroopyDawg** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:59 pm

Why? Is he short and green?

Droopy

Bert_the_Turtle · Post by **Bert_the_Turtle** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:00 am

Well, as a matter of fact....

DroopyDawg · Post by **DroopyDawg** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:03 am

concrete_Angel · Post by **concrete_Angel** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:24 pm

Should this be considered Darwinism at it's best?

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:51 pm

Wait! There's More!

Missing canoeist turns up after five years, wife disappears wrote:LONDON (AFP) - The wife of a British man who disappeared more than five years ago but then turned up alive at the weekend has herself gone missing, media reports said Tuesday.

John Darwin, 57, who was thought to have died in a canoeing accident in the North Sea, walked in to a London police station and declared he was a missing person, but had no memory of where he had been.

As police try to piece together the mystery, newspapers said his wife, Anne, has now disappeared, with family and friends unaware of her whereabouts.

She emigrated about six weeks ago, possibly to Panama in central America, after selling the family home in Seaton Carew, northeast England, and not leaving a forwarding address.

Puzzled neighbours and the house's new owners told reporters she left furniture in the house and Spanish language books.

Six months after her husband's disappearance that she thought she was a widow. An inquest was also held into his death.

A number of newspapers said the wife had an active bank account in Panama. But other neighbours were convinced she was in Australia or the Caribbean.

Police questioned John Darwin, a former teacher and prison officer who was declared dead after the remains of his canoe were washed up on the beach at Seaton Carew in March 2002.

At the weekend he walked into a police station saying "I think I am a missing person" according to the Guardian.

"The guy can't remember anything about what's happened or why he's come forward. He has no memory at all. He has obviously been somewhere for the last five years and a lot of questions need answering," it cited a source as saying.

His father, Ronald, 91, was quoted as saying that a childhood accident in which his son was knocked over by a car and suffered a head injury could account for his amnesia.

The case has revived memories of others in which people have disappeared or apparently committed suicide, only to emerge years later very much alive.

Notable examples include that of Richard Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, who vanished in 1974 when his children's nanny was found murdered at his estranged wife's house in London and the former government minister John Stonehouse.

Over the years there have been a number of claimed sightings of Lucan, who was a notorious gambler with huge debts.

In 1974 Stonehouse left his clothes on a beach in Miami and fled to Australia with his secretary to start a new life, leaving his wife, another mistress, a daughter and mounting debts.

He was tracked down, coincidentally by police hunting Lord Lucan, and jailed in 1976 for theft and false pretences. After leaving jail he worked for charities and died in 1988.

DroopyDawg · Post by **DroopyDawg** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:17 pm

Seems to be similar to the board here. Someone is lost. Then they come back. Just to loose someone else. Funny in a sad sort of way.

Droopy