British police say they will question the wife of the back-from-dead kayaker when she returns home from Central America, though they're uncertain when that will happen.

It was widely reported in British newspapers Friday that the wife of John Darwin, whose reappearance in London and subsequent arrest earlier this week has gripped the world, was en route to England from Panama.

Cleveland Police, the force in northern England handling the case, said they are "aware of rumours" that Anne Darwin is returning but do not have reliable information that it is true.

"If and when Mrs. Darwin does appear in the UK, police want to speak to her as a matter of urgency," a news release posted on their website said. It's unclear whether she would be treated as a suspect or witness.

Meanwhile, police received a 36-hour extension for questioning her husband.

John Darwin, 57, was arrested earlier in the week on suspicions of fraud after he walked into a London police station five years after going missing, claiming he had amnesia.

After a picture surfaced of the couple in a Panama apartment with a time stamp of July 2006, his wife told the British newspaper Daily Mirror, "What have I done? I hate lying, I'm not a dishonest person. I really am so sorry."

Darwin was declared dead in 2003, about a year after he was believed to have drowned in the North Sea after his broken kayak washed up on a beach.

Darwin's wife then cashed in his life insurance policy. Anne Darwin told the British newspaper that while the picture was genuine, she thought her husband was dead at the time when she claimed the policy.

In a statement released through Cleveland Police Thursday, the couple's two sons, Mark and Anthony, said they were the victims of a "large scam" and had disowned their parents.

Questions have been raised, however, about whether the children knew of the deceit since it emerged that both recently left their jobs, but both insist they knew nothing.

With files from the Associated Press