24-Jul-2008
Story Timeline: 79 days
Jul 24 2008 by Gareth Lightfoot, Evening Gazette JOHN Darwin was “a broken man” who still clung to the hope of reconciliation with his betrayed sons, a court heard. He threw himself on the mercy of a judge and apologised to financial institutions and emergency services, said his barrister Peter Makepeace. Above all, he wanted to say sorry to his sons. “This is not the appropriate forum for doing so,” said Mr Makepeace. “He struggles to come to terms with what he’s done to those boys. “He continues to harbour the hope that a day will come when he can be reconciled with his sons. “That may be as fantastical and unrealistic as the beliefs he has held throughout his life. It’s a hope that will sustain him for the rest of the period in incarceration, and what promises to be a very lonely existence when he’s released.” The former...
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