Canoeist John Darwin launches a surprising new career after moving to the Philippines

CANOE fraudster John Darwin is building a career as a social media influencer.

The 73 year oldwho faked his own death at sea, appears in videos with wife Mercy May in the Philippines.

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Conman Darwin dances down an escalator in one clip, and in another clip he is serenaded by his woman of eight years.

Market trader Mercy has 19,000 Facebook followers and shares cooking and gardening tips and glimpses into their chic home.

One video has 1.1 million views.

Another shows Darwin’s 50th birthday gift to Mercy, spelling out Happy Birthday in 50 peso notes.

Darwin and his then wife Anne pretended he had died while canoeing in the North Sea, but claimed £250,000 in insurance and pension payments while hiding in a house next to his home in Seaton Carew, Co Durham – while their adult sons thought he was dead.

They traveled abroad and settled briefly in Panama before Darwin turned himself in to the police in 2007claiming memory loss.

Both were sentenced to more than six years in prison for fraud in 2008.

Anne now has her relationship with her sons.

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