I forgive you, mum: Canoe son rebuilds relationship with mother Anne Darwin after she lied to him and his brother for FIVE YEARS that their father was dead

Mark Darwin and his younger brother Anthony stood with their mother Anne when they threw a wreath of red roses into the choppy waters off a windswept pier in County Durham in 2004. 


His father, John Darwin, had disappeared during a canoeing accident two years earlier and been declared dead. What Mark could not have known as he comforted his mother was that behind a wall dividing the house from the one next door stood the 'dead' man himself. No wonder Mark and Anthony swore they would have nothing more to do with their parents. Yet now, there has been a most unlikely reconciliation between Mark and Anne. Pictured: Mark and Anne Darwin in London last week (left); John and Anne with Mark and Anthony as schoolboys (centre); and Anne joins Mark, his wife Flick and their children Joe and Max on holiday in Spain (right).