Darwin reveals all from inside prison

The story of how John Darwin faked his own death gripped the world. The unlikely tale of how he pretended to drown in a canoe accident, used the money to fund a life of luxury in Panama, and then returned to Britain claiming to have amnesia had all the makings of a good book.

This, it appears, is not lost on the man himself. It emerged that Darwin, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison in July, intends to publish his story and is currently writing his memoirs from his jail cell.

He has apparently already written the first 33,000 words and has managed to smuggle it out of Everthorpe Prison in Yorkshire, where he currently resides. He has also designed a cover for the book; a crude drawing of a man paddling towards a tropical island in a red canoe. And he has titled the tome: The Canoe Man Panama & Back.

Meanwhile, the British government is doing everything in their power to seize the properties and other assets John and his wife Anne have in Panama.

A letter was sent from the British authorities to the Vice-president and Foreign Affairs Minister, Juan Carlos Varela a few weeks ago, but they are still waiting for an answer.

Darwin, a former prison officer, conned financial institutions out of around £250,000 after vanishing in March 2002 while paddling his canoe in the North Sea near his home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool. He had actually begun a new life in Panama with his wife Anne, but returned to the UK in November 2007, telling police he was a missing person with amnesia.