THE wife of back-fromthe- dead canoeist John Darwin has been refused the chance to challenge her conviction.

But Anne Darwin, 56, will be allowed to challenge the length of her sixand- a-half year sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, her 57-yearold husband has been denied the opportunity to appeal against the sentence he was given for carrying out the deception, but has launched an appeal against this refusal.

The couple were jailed in July last year for carrying out “a determined and sophisticated”

£250,000 fraud.

They worked out a swindle that deceived the police, a coroner, financial institutions and their sons, Mark and Anthony.

They faked Mr Darwin’s death in a canoeing accident in 2002, and collected pension and insurance pay-outs while other relatives grieved.

Mrs Darwin, 56, was convicted of six counts of fraud and nine of moneylaundering after a sevenday trial at Teesside Crown Court.

A spokeswoman for the Court of Appeal said yesterday: “Mrs Darwin was appealing against both her conviction and her sentence, but was refused leave on the conviction, so that will stay as it is.

“She was granted leave on her sentence so that matter will go before the full court to decide what happens next.”

Former prison officer and teacher Mr Darwin was jailed for six years and three months after he admitted deception and theft charges.

His wife said her domineering husband forced her to go through with the plan to con insurance and pension companies by faking his death. Teesside Crown Court heard that the plan to hoax insurers and pension schemes into believing Mr Darwin was dead was hatched when the couple faced bankruptcy.

It was said the Darwins were ashamed at the prospect of losing their imposing seafront home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in 2002.

They owned 12 properties and were struggling to make mortgage payments, when Mr Darwin paddled into the sea and disappeared.

Mrs Darwin collected her husband a mile along the coast and took him to Durham train station, so he could escape from the North-East.

He obtained a passport in the name of a dead baby and lived next to his wife while they hatched a plot to emigrate and start a new life.

Only weeks after Mrs Darwin joined him in Panama, Central America, he walked into a police station in London and said that he was a missing person from Hartlepool.

He claimed his whereabouts during the past five and-a-half years were not known.

A date for Mrs Darwin’s appeal is yet to be set.