the "canoe man" accused of faking his own death, when his wife, Anne, was due to stand trial for deception in July 2008. The reporter built up a database of emails that he believed would help defeat Anne Darwin's defence; her husband had pleaded guilty to seven charges of deception before her trial.
Walking into a London police station in December 2007, he declared: "I think I may be a missing person", but later that month both he and his wife were charged with fraud after it emerged that they had been photographed in Panama with an estate agent and that Anne Darwin had cashed in her husband's
the first week of July 2008, Sky News said executives met Cleveland police officials and handed over "pertinent" emails. Anne Darwin was found guilty in the trial that followed shortly afterwards, and was sentenced to six and half years in prison; John Darwin was sentenced to six years, three months.
The story displayed a picture of "John and Anne Darwin's masterplan", showing a detailed diagram that had apparently been produced by Darwin, and claimed to have obtained detailed financial accounts prepared by Darwin. In another story, published in November 2009, Tubb quoted directly from an email