Sky News editor's retirement 'unrelated to email hacking' Sky News managing editor Simon Cole is planning to retire in a move he says is unrelated to the revelations of email hacking. It was revealed earlier on Thursday that Cole agreed a journalist could hack into the emails of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin after ruling the action was in the public interest. The broadcaster said the evidence it discovered was handed to police and used in the successful prosecution of Darwin's wife Anne for insurance and pension fraud. Simon Cole tweeted on Thursday: "I've been planning for some time to retire from Sky News after 17 years. This is unrelated to the Darwin story. There is no linkage. Fact. Darwin, 61, faked his own death in a canoeing accident in 2002 so his wife, 60, could claim hundreds of thousands of pounds from insurance policies and pension schemes. North of England correspondent Gerard Tubb hacked into Darwin's Yahoo! email account and uncovered messages which cast doubt on Mrs Darwin's claim during her criminal trial that her "domineering" husband forced her to go through with the fraud plan. The Darwins, from Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, were jailed at Teesside Crown Court in 2008 for the swindle, which deceived the police, a coroner, financial institutions and even their sons Mark and Anthony. In a separate case, Mr Tubb was authorised to access the emails of a suspected paedophile and his wife, although this investigation did not result in any material being published or broadcast.