Canoe give us our sign back please?

4:01am Friday 21st December 2007

THE practical joker responsible for the mock road sign near the home of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife, Anne, last night appealed for its return.

A photograph of the sign, which appeared first on the front page of The Northern Echo and later in several national newspapers, disappeared within hours of it being put up in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool.

The name Carew was replaced with the word canoe -a reference to Mr Darwin last being seen pushing off from Seaton Carew beach in his kayak five-and-a-half years ago.

The sign also said the town was twinned with Panama, Central America, where his wife, Anne, moved to in October.

Mr Darwin disappeared from his home in March 2002 and was presumed drowned, until he walked into a police station in London at the start of the month.

Police yesterday denied they removed the sign, while Hartlepool Borough Council said it sent a crew and a vehicle to take it away -only to find someone had got there first.

Where the sign had once briefly stood in Station Way, council workers found only the discarded nylon ties that had been used to secure the sign.

Self-employed joiner Graham Culley, the practical joker who came up with the idea for the sign, said the temptation had been irresistible.

The 67-year-old said: "It was just on the news all the time. Every time you switched on the telly it was there. I had the idea of making a sign for about a week.

"It was done on a computer and I went to a signwriter who said he could do it with black stick-on letters."

Mr Culley, who lives and works in Seaton Carew, installed the sign with two friends in the dead of night.

He said the arrival of the world's media in the town to cover the unfolding story of the investigation into the Darwins catapulted Seaton Carew to the centre of the world stage. He said: "Seaton Carew is now known worldwide. It has put us on the map, and I think it has been good for Seaton Carew.''

Stephen Lithgo, his workmate for 19 years, who helped to put up the sign, said: "You got up every morning to see what the latest development or twist was in the story."

Both men feel sure the saga will one day be turned into a film.

Mr Culley said: "We would like a part in any film -the bit shot in Panama."

Mr Darwin, 57, is charged with dishonestly obtaining £25,000 and making an untrue statement to procure a passport.

Mrs Darwin, 55, is accused of dishonestly obtaining a £25,000 life assurance payment and a policy worth £137,000, which settled her mortgage in the event of her husband's death.

Both are in custody and will appear before Hartlepool magistrates on January 11.

Have you got the sign? If so, call our newsdesk on 01325-505064.