Darwins' Panama apartment is sold

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is expecting the money from the sale of the property to be returned to the UK shortly, having already seized £157,720 from her bank accounts in Britain and Jersey.

However, land in Panama worth more than £230,000 and HSBC accounts totalling more than £140,000 in the country have not yet been confiscated, three years after the scam came to light.

Mrs Darwin, who was released from Askham Grange, in York, on Wednesday, became notorious after her husband, John, faked his own death by disappearing while canoeing off Seaton Carew in 2002, allowing her to claim £250,000 in life insurance and pensions.

The couple tricked their sons into believing their father had drowned, when he had fled to Panama with his wife and was living off his life insurance and pension money.

He turned up at a UK police station in November 2007, claiming he was a missing person with amnesia.

But the pair’s story began to fall apart after a photo of the couple in Panama turned up on the internet.

Mr Darwin, who was jailed in July 2008 after admitting six counts of fraud and nine of money laundering, was released from Moorland open prison, in Doncaster, last month A spokeswoman for the CPS said: “So far, £157,720.91 has been recovered. The enforcement receiver appointed by the court in this case is working closely with the Panamanian authorities and continues to actively pursue those assets.

“There is currently no reason to believe the Panama assets from Mrs Darwin’s criminal behaviour will not be recovered.

“The apartment owned by Mrs Darwin in Panama has now been sold subject to contract and the monies are expected to be returned to the UK.”

She added: “The enforcement receiver is actively pursuing the assets of £143,952 in the HSBC in Panama and is in the process of agreeing the transfer of funds.

“The land at Gatun Lake (Panama) is still on the market for sale and Mrs Darwin is co-operating with the enforcement receiver.”