THE story of a man who faked his own death before being arrested at his son’s house in Basingstoke has been recreated for a new ITV drama.

The now infamous canoe conman John Darwin, a prison officer, was reported missing on March 21, 2002, after he was spotting in his canoe, entering the water at the seafront in Hartlepool.

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His wife, Anne, phoned police to report him missing when he failed to report for his night shift at Holme House prison that evening.

However, Anne knew that John was in fact safe and well. She helped with his secret escape as part of an elaborate insurance fraud in which he faked his own death.

The couple even lied to their two sons, eventually moving to Panama City.

The fraud was exposed by the discovery of a photo showing them in an estate agent’s office in July 2006.

It came to light after John decided to return to the UK and walked into a London police station in December 2007 claiming amnesia while Anne expressed joy at his return.

However, their lies began to unravel after The Mirror published the photo of the couple taken in Panama a year earlier.

John was eventually arrested at his son’s home in Basingstoke in 2008 and the couple were jailed for fraud.

The real-life story will be the subject of new ITV drama, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, starring Eddie Marsan as John and Monica Dolan as Anne, based on an unpublished manuscript by journalist David Leigh, who was first to interview Anne and break the story.

The first episode of the drama is set to be broadcast on Easter Sunday.

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