The dead canoeist story: now we're all detectives as well as reporters

"The woman who uncovered the picture of missing John Darwin with his wife found it with a simple search on Google."

The Daily Mirror reports:

She typed in the words John, Anne and Panama, clicked on images and up it popped - complete with date.

The single mum, who does not want to be named, said: "I'd like to nominate them for 'World's Dumbest' awards.

"Not only were they photographed but the date was actually on the picture. It was just too good to be true."

The photo of John and Anne was taken in July 2006 for a "Move to Panama" website. It has now been removed.

After finding the picture, the mum said: "I just blinked - and there they were. I rang police in Cleveland. The man on the other end said, 'You're joking'!"

Presumably a better result than Sun journalist Brian Flynn of The Sun got by posting on this bulletin board:

I am a UK national newspaper reporter keen to speak to anyone who knows or knew British ex-pats John and Anne Darwin in Panama. We pay well for information that is used in the paper. You can contact me at b.flynn@the-sun.co.uk.

Good stab though.