KEY POINTS:
John Darwin, a married father of two children, was last seen entering the sea in his kayak in the Tees Bay area on the morning of March 21, 2002. He was not reported missing until that evening, when he failed to turn up for a night shift at Holme House prison where he worked as a prison officer.
His disappearance prompted a massive rescue operation, involving six RNLI lifeboats, three inshore lifeboats, a Royal Navy ship, an RAF helicopter and a police spotter plane with heat-seeking detection equipment.
Emergency teams soon recovered a canoe paddle but, after 16 hours, the search was called off.
Darwin was an experienced canoeist and, at the time, coastguards described his disappearance as "a complete mystery".
A week later, the shattered remains of his distinctive red canoe were found washed up on a beach at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool. But there was no trace of the man, then aged 51.
Yesterday Cleveland Police announced that yesterday Darwin had walked into the West End Central Police Station in London.
A spokesman said: "Mr Darwin is fit and well and relatives have been informed of his whereabouts. It is not known at this time where he has spent the last 5 1/2 years."
Darwin's disappearance devastated his family. His wife Anne, a receptionist, watched the fruitless search operation from the window of the family home, which the couple had chosen for its commanding view of the North-east coast.
Six months after her husband vanished, she told a local newspaper: "The view from my window is a daily reminder. This was to be the house of our dreams and I have just got to look out and not dwell on the tragedy."
- INDEPENDENT
