THE back-from-the-dead canoe fraudster John Darwin is facing a return to prison after he left the UK without permission to meet a statuesque Ukrainian in a mini-skirt.

The 63-year-old was pictured on a date with a blonde woman in her 20s in the town of Sumy, 1500 miles from his Hartlepool home.

He was freed early on licence in January 2011 after being sentenced in 2008 to serve six years and three months for fraud.

That meant he was not allowed to leave the UK without Probation Service permission until all of his sentence was served.

The Probation Service would not speak about individual cases but a spokesman said: "Any offender subject to licence supervision is required to gain permission from probation to travel outside of the UK; permission is only granted in exceptional circumstances.

"Any offender who travels without this permission will be subject to recall to custody."

It was believed Darwin was still in the Ukraine.

According to reports, Darwin and a local woman named Anna enjoyed a two-hour meal assisted by a translator, but the evening turned sour when he was confronted by a reporter.

It was claimed Darwin first made contact with the woman over the internet.

He faked his own death in a canoeing accident in 2002 so his then-wife Anne could claim hundreds of thousands of pounds from insurance policies and pension schemes.

The couple, from Seaton Carew, were jailed at Teesside Crown Court in 2008 for the swindle, which deceived the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their sons.

Darwin admitted fraud so received a slightly shorter sentence than Anne, who denied the offences. They have now divorced.

After faking his own death, Darwin continued to live in secret with his wife before they escaped to Panama to start a new life.

But in December 2007 Darwin walked into a London police station claiming he had amnesia.

His wife, then still in Panama, initially also claimed to be surprised - until a photograph emerged of them posing together.