By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - The wife of a man presumed drowned in a canoeing accident more than five years ago has told British newspapers that a photo of them taken together in Panama last year was genuine.

In a case that has gripped and intrigued Britain, John Darwin was arrested this week on suspicion of fraud after walking into a London police station and telling officers he believed they might be looking for him.

Darwin, 57, vanished in March 2002 from his home in northeast England. Since reappearing, tanned and in good health, the former prison officer's family has said he has no memory of events since 2000.

Attention has now switched to his wife Anne, 55, who sold her home and left Britain for central America with 450,000 pounds ($900,000) shortly before his shock reappearance.

With the saga dominating the headlines, British tabloid reporters descended on Panama en masse.

The Daily Mirror published a photo which apparently showed her with her "dead" husband pictured in a Panama apartment last year.

When the tabloid confronted her with the picture, she was quoted as saying "Yes, that's him. My sons will never forgive me."

"They knew nothing. They thought John was dead. Now they are going to hate me," she said.

Several other newspapers reported her confirming that the photo was genuine and describing her life as a nightmare.

She said she now planned to return to Britain as "I don't want to live my life as a fugitive ... I'll have to go back because I won't have any life here."

The mystery began in 2002 when she reported him missing, saying it was feared he had suffered an accident while kayaking in the North Sea near their home in Hartlepool, Cleveland, northern England.

Detective Superintendent Tony Hutchinson, who is probing the case, said the sea had been calm the day he disappeared and despite extensive searches involving aircraft, lifeboats and a Royal Navy ship, no trace was found of him.

A few weeks later the shattered remains of his red kayak was discovered and, following a police inquiry. In 2003, a coroner declared him dead.

Hutchinson said officers had received a tip-off three months ago that indicated there might be "something suspicious" about his disappearance.

"There is at one side the potential he's suffered amnesia for five-and-a-half years right to the other end of the scale whereby there has been some criminal offences committed," he said, adding it was not clear why Darwin had handed himself in.