John Darwin returned from the dead claiming he had no memory of where he had been in the last five years.

But this innocent snap was to expose his scam.

The sensational picture was taken in Panama while the couple were allegedly staying in a rented room.

John had enlisted the help of relocation firm – Move to Panama run by Mario Vilar – who believed he was an ex-pat looking to set up a new life after retirement.

Again using the name John Jones, Darwin filled in an online form on the firm's website – and started a trail of emails which was to take him to central America.

The messages show how he rented an apartment from which to search for a new home.

They detail flights and hire car arrangements and an arranged stay of five nights for $145 – renting an apartment in Panama hosted by Mario Vilar's own parents. After a number of email correspondences between Darwin and Mario, he jetted to Panama in July 2006, arriving on the 7th, and happily posed for this picture beside Mr Vilar.

The picture of the smiling Darwins apparently together was posted on the firm's website bearing the date it was taken.

Mario said: "We first came into contact with Darwin after he filled in our online form requesting information about one of our services which is a room that we rent in Panama City.

"We exchanged several emails until he finally came out here at the beginning of July 2006. We met a couple of days later at our offices, where the picture was taken after we finished the meeting."

Move to Panama advertises itself as a specialist real estate firm for ex pats setting up home in central America.

The firm was founded in 2002 and its website features dozens of photos of satisfied customers who have bought holiday homes or rented rooms.

Darwin arrived in Panama just as planned on the emails and met up with Mario at the offices of Move to Panama.

During the meeting Mr Vilar discussed general information about a possible move.

Mario said: "We didn't suspect there was anything wrong. Actually he was very nice and polite. He happily agreed to pose for a picture."

The picture was discovered quite by accident by a woman in the US trawling the web for information on the bizarre Darwin story. She simply entered the names in Google, came across the picture on the site and immediately contacted authorities.

John Darwin was arrested as news of the picture's existence was revealed.

Mario added: "The first thing I knew was when I was contacted by a reporter and he told me. I was just stunned."