He also admitted how he callously stole the identity of a dead baby to secure a passport as part of his sinister plot.

The former teacher and prison officer pleaded guilty to seven fraud charges involving almost £250,000.

Nine other charges of money laundering, which he denied, were ordered to lie on file.

Now authorities will seek to claw back the cash they believe is stashed in bank accounts in Panama where Darwin intended to start a new life after carrying out his fraud.

As he was led away from court yesterday, his legal team said he accepted a "lengthy custodial sentence was inevitable".

But Darwin, 57, will have to wait four months before he is sentenced until his wife, Anne, faces trial after denying all the fraud charges against her.

Anne, 55, a former doctor's receptionist, denied six counts of deception and nine charges of money laundering. She will stand trial in July at Teesside Crown Court.

The courtroom at Leeds Crown Court packed with reporters spilling over into the area normally reserved for the jury yesterday.

As the couple were brought into the dock and stood facing the judge, Darwin turned to his wife and squeezed her hand. Mrs Darwin stared straight forward and did not appear to respond.

The couple were next to each other throughout the 30-minute hearing flanked by three security guards.

Darwin, who was wearing a black leather jacket over a blue open-neck shirt and jeans, entered his pleas, occasionally pausing to consult a piece of paper.

His wife, who was wearing a white cream cardigan over a white shirt with dark trousers, confidently said "not guilty" to each of the charges.

She showed no emotion and stared straight ahead throughout the hearing.
As the couple sat, John Darwin turned towards his wife and asked her if she was all right. For the first time she acknowledged him with a nod before they were taken out of court to awaiting prison vans.

Peter Makepeace, representing Darwin, asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared and said his client was judged by a psychiatrist to be suffering from low mood and depression due to being behind bars – but there were no mental health issues relevant to the case.

Mr Makepeace said: "Mr Darwin has been in custody. It has been an extremely difficult time for him. There have been self-harming issues."

It was a stark contrast from reports that Darwin had become a celebrity behind bars even signing his autograph as "the canoe man" on prison uniforms.

Mr Justice Wilkie agreed for the report to be prepared but he told Darwin he will have to be held in custody until the conclusion of his wife's trial.

Darwin disappeared after taking his canoe into the sea opposite his home in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, in March 2002.

A huge air-sea search failed to find any trace of his body and he was pronounced dead by police and a coroner the following year.

Days later, a photograph of Darwin and his wife, a former doctor's receptionist, emerged, which appeared to show them in Panama, Central America, with a property agent.

The picture is said to have been taken in July 2006 – more than three years after Hartlepool Coroner Malcolm Donnelly recorded an open verdict on Darwin's apparent death.

Detectives said the couple's two sons, Mark and Anthony Darwin, were never made aware that their father was still alive and were innocent "victims" of the charade.