Others who came back from the dead

Short-lived: Ex-MP John Stonehouse faked his death to start a new life with his secretary in Australia but was caught one month later
12 April 2012
John Stonehouse

Karl Hackett
Reported missing, believed dead, after the Paddington rail crash in October 1999. Mr Hackett, who was convicted of a sexual assault as a teenager, had lived under the assumed name Lee Simm for 10 years and used the opportunity of the disaster to kill off his previous identity. He was given a suspended sentence for wasting police time in February 2000.

Graham Cardwell
The Lincolnshire dockmaster was discovered eight months after his disappearance in September 1998 living 200 miles away in the West Midlands. Police believed he had been swept out to sea after his belongings were found on mud flats at the docks. He said he had disappeared because he thought he was suffering from cancer.

Thomas Osmond
The civil servant was thought to have jumped off the Severn Bridge after leaving a suicide note in March 1995. But he was discovered three years later living in Bristol under the pseudonym Stephen Williams. He was trying to escape standing trial for sex offences.

Ken Kesey
The American author, who wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was thought to have committed suicide in 1966 after his truck was found on a cliffside road, with a note. He had in fact fled charges of possessing cannabis and gone to Mexico. He was discovered after returning to the US and jailed for five months.

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