Canoe Man John Darwin launches surprise new career after moving to the Philippines

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

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

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

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

One video has 1.1 million views.

Another features Darwin’s 50th birthday present to Mercy spelling out Happy Birthday in 50 peso notes.

Darwin and his then wife Anne pretended he had died canoeing in the North Sea but claimed £250,000 in insurance and pension payouts while he hid in a house adjoining his home in Seaton Carew, Co Durham — with their grown-up sons believing him dead.

They had trips abroad, briefly settling in Panama before Darwin handed himself in to police in 2007, claiming amnesia.

Both were jailed for more than six years for fraud in 2008.

Anne has now rebuilt her relationship with her sons.