amounts of £2,000 and £2,273). They were remanded in custody once more to appear in court again on 18 January 2008. On 18 January, they each appeared separately at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court by video-link and were remanded in custody until 15 February, when they faced committal to Crown Court. On 13 March, John Darwin admitted seven charges of obtaining cash by deception and a passport offence at Leeds Crown Court. He denied nine charges of using criminal property; these charges were ordered to lie on file. Anne Darwin denied six charges of deception and nine of using criminal property. Sentencing On 23 July 2008, John and Anne Darwin were both convicted of fraud. John Darwin faced an additional charge relating to his fake passport and was sentenced to six years and three months in prison. Anne Darwin, who was described by the police as a compulsive liar, was sentenced to six years and six months. Both appealed against their sentences and on 27 March 2009, both appeals were denied by the Court of Appeal. Anne was imprisoned at HM Prison Low Newton. The Crown Prosecution Service said that all profits from the "callous and calculated" fraud committed by the couple would be confiscated. John Darwin was released on probation in January 2011 and Anne Darwin was released in March 2011. On 14 February 2012, the CPS announced that the entire £501,641.39 in life insurance and pension payouts received by Anne Darwin had been recovered, partly from the sale of two properties in Panama. Kingsley Hyland, head of the North East CPS Complex Casework Unit, said: "It is important that fraudsters see that not only will we prosecute them wherever possible, but we will also make every effort to retrieve their ill-gotten gains to return them to those they have defrauded." In April 2014, it was reported that John Darwin had repaid just £121 from the £679,073 that the judge had ordered him to repay. However, this was because all the assets were in Anne Darwin's name. By July 2015, the pair no longer had any assets, having repaid a total of £541,762.39. In popular culture In July 2008, the Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks transmitted a storyline similar to the John Darwin case, in which character Jack Osborne faked his death, with the help of his son, Darren, and adopted the identity of the recently deceased Eamon Fisher. The story