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A man accused of faking his own death in an insurance scam was ordered by a court yesterday to remain in custody on charges of fraud and acquiring a passport under a false name.John Darwin, 57 - who turned up at a London police station on December 1, years after being declared dead from a 2002 canoe accident - was ordered by Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court to be held in jail until Friday, when he will appear again via video link.

Dressed in a maroon sweat shirt and red track trousers, Darwin, a former prison officer, appeared dishevelled and confused. He spoke twice during the four-minute hearing, responding “That’s correct” when the court read him his full name and saying his date of birth.

Darwin did not enter a plea on the two charges he faces: Dishonestly obtaining an insurance claim of £25,000 (now worth approximately $50,000, BD18,900) in May 2003 by falsely claiming he had been killed, and obtaining a passport under a false name in October 2003.

Darwin’s wife, Anne, 55, was arrested on suspicion of fraud after her flight from Atlanta, Georgia, touched down at Manchester’s airport on Sunday. She had been living in Panama in recent months, but left the Central American country Wednesday.

On Sunday, Mrs Darwin was transferred to Cleveland, 400km north of London, where the Hartlepool court is located.

For a few hours yesterday morning, the Darwins were in same Hartlepool compound. Mrs Darwin was being questioned by detectives about how her husband allegedly hid himself for five years, whether the couple maintained contact after his reported death, and how they apparently came to be photographed together in Panama.