Ten years ago: Canoe couple sentenced to six years in prison

The couple were jailed for more than six years after they orchestrated John Darwin's death in a canoe stunt.

The 57-year-old father of two was jailed for six years and three months after he admitted seven counts of fraud and one charge of dishonestly obtaining a passport.

His wife Anne was locked up for six-and-a-half years after she was found guilty of six fraud charges and nine money laundering offences.

Authorities were unsure why John Darwin returned from Panama to a London police station and declared: "I think I'm a missing person."

The judge who heard the case against the couple, from Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, said he believed the former prison officer longed to see his sons, Mark and Anthony.

However, at the time a senior detective said: "The only two people who really know are the Darwins, and they aren't telling us.”

Also that week, a pub owner celebrated after her pub was named country pub of the season by the Campaign for Real Ale.

Fiona Gould of The Forresters Arms near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, won the award after a mystery customer from the real ale society visited the pub to test the beer and level of service.

Miss Gould, 50, said: "We stock Hambleton Ales and members of Camra called in one day and asked if I wanted to enter, so we decided to.

"A mystery customer came around to check if the drink was served in the correct way, and topped up without asking, and other criteria. We were really pleased to win."

And then-Prime Minster Gordon Brown faced another by-election defeat.

Labour lost votes in Glasgow East causing MPs to doubt the Prime Minister however, several North-East MPs lined up to support him.

Nick Brown, Minister for the North-East at the time, dismissed calls for Mr Brown to be replaced.

He said: "I'm a big supporter of Gordon Brown. In Glasgow, it was about petrol prices, perhaps more than anything else. People blame the Government, perhaps unfairly."