Missing Canoeist Turns Up After 5 Years

A man who vanished and was presumed to have drowned while canoeing in the North Sea more than five years ago has walked into a London police station. Related article: Daily Mirror reports "Canoe's this in Panama? Not the best headline but it shows the photo of the formerly happy couple.

John Darwin, a married father of two children, was last seen entering the sea in his kayak in the Tees Bay area on the morning of 21 March, 2002. He was not reported missing until that evening, when he failed to turn up for a night shift at Holme House prison where he worked as a prison officer.

His disappearance prompted a massive rescue operation, involving six RNLI lifeboats, three inshore lifeboats, a Royal Navy ship, an RAF helicopter and a police spotter plane with heat-seeking detection equipment.

Emergency teams soon recovered a canoe paddle but, after 16 hours, the search was called off.

Mr Darwin was an experienced canoeist and, at the time, coastguards described his disappearance as "a complete mystery".

A week later, the shattered remains of his distinctive red canoe were found washed up on a beach at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool. But there was no trace of the missing man, who was then aged 51.