Probe into missing Brit Sarm Heslop stalls after cops let key witness boyfriend leave Virgin Islands on £500k yacht
A POLICE investigation into the mysterious disappearance of British sailor Sarm Heslop in the US Virgin Islands last night seemed to have run aground after her boyfriend was allowed to leave.
Ryan Bane, 44, weighed anchor and sailed off on his £500,000 yacht after cops did not treat her disappearance as a criminal inquiry, leaving him free to go.
Detectives admitted they had no idea where their key witness had gone after his boat, the 47ft Siren Song, left secluded Frank Bay on St John, the smallest of the three US Virgin Islands.
The disappearance of Flybe air hostess Sarm on March 7 has raised serious questions about the urgency of the investigation on the island.
The mystery seems no closer to being solved, despite nearly three weeks of searching.
Bane — a convicted wife beater — did not speak when The Sun invited him to comment further on Sarm’s disappearance.
The next day he sailed away from the US Virgin Islands after previously refusing cops permission to search his vessel.
Cops stress he is not a suspect in Sarm’s disappearance, but the island police and the FBI still want to speak to him in detail about her.
US Virgin Islands Police Department spokesman Toby Derima told The Sun: “We do not know where Ryan Bane has gone. It would only have taken him a couple of hours to sail to Puerto Rico.
MASSIVE SEARCH
“He is a person we want to talk to, but I cannot say he is a suspect. We are still very anxious to speak to him and would urge him to allow us to do that.
“We also want to search his boat. He is not legally required to stay on the US Virgin Islands, and we have not had the chance to speak to him directly to request he stays around pending further inquiries.
“His lawyer has told him not to speak with us, as is his constitutional right.
“We are continuing to treat this as a missing person inquiry at this time, not a criminal investigation.
“The FBI are also treating this as a missing person investigation.
“We are continuing our search for Ms Heslop with all our resources.”
And he added that detectives are probing the possibility that Sarm never actually returned to the boat, The Sun can reveal.
Mr Derima added: “Nothing so far actually confirms they went back to the yacht together that night.
“That’s why we are looking through the surveillance video, to establish if there is evidence of them going back to the vessel.
“Detectives did mention they need to establish this. They have to go by Ryan Bane’s story, but they are still trying to verify it.
“Obviously we know the dinghy did go back to the yacht, but it has not so far been verified that Sarm was on it.”
According to Bane, on the night in question the couple had been for dinner in a local restaurant until 10pm, before taking their dinghy back to his catamaran.
Bane has said they watched a film and went to sleep, before he was woken at 2am by his yacht’s anchor alarm and found that Sarm, from Southampton, was missing.
A massive search involving divers and a helicopter, which lasted into the evening, found no trace of her.
Sea conditions were described as “perfect” and she is known to be a strong swimmer.
A supposed sighting of her on the island of St Thomas, six miles away, was discounted, while her phone, purse and passport remained unused aboard her boyfriend’s boat.
Police said he called them at 2.30am on the night Sarm went missing and they told him to ring the US Coast Guard.
But apparently that call was not made until 11.46am the following morning.
It then emerged that Bane had hired a lawyer in the US Virgin Islands and was refusing to let police, who were desperate for clues, search his yacht.
Bane had been chartering out the boat to tourists after moving to the Caribbean from Michigan in 2015.
Officers have not obtained a warrant to search the boat, because Sarm’s case is a missing persons search, not a criminal inquiry.
He also refused to let a US Coast Guard team see inside the rooms of his catamaran, forcing them to stay on the upper deck as he handed over some of her possessions.
Andrew Baldwin, Sarm’s best pal in the UK, told The Sun: “Right now we need questions answered.
“We are all confused by the timeline. Ryan rang police at 2.30am but didn’t call the US Coast Guard until more than nine hours later.
“We are appealing for him to speak to police. We would also like him to make another public statement to clear this up.”
Andrew, 41, revealed that Sarm’s credit cards had not been used since she went missing, and added: “We want Ryan to agree for police to make a thorough search of the Siren Song.”
Bane and Sarm met last year on dating app Tinder in Grenada.
She then went to Malta to find work and they conducted a long-distance relationship.
She returned to the Caribbean a few weeks ago to work as a cook on his boat, which was moored in just 11ft of water about 50ft from the shoreline when she vanished.
The two were described as very much in love.
ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED
This week it was revealed that Bane’s ex-wife Corie Stevenson had him arrested for attacking her in 2011. He served 21 days in jail for domestic assault.
The police report for the incident read: “Ryan grabbed her in the dining room, threw her to the ground and smashed her head into the floor, chipping one of her teeth.
“She says that she fought Ryan off of her. She states that Ryan has been becoming increasingly verbally abusive toward her, and that he has been physically abusive one time previously.”
Corie, 43, told The Sun Bane was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character and she had cut short her honeymoon because she feared for her safety.
Of the assault, she said: “I was absolutely terrified while it was happening. I saw the devil behind his eyes and it scared me.
“It was a totally different person who was there. It was petrifying. During the assault my fear reached a whole other level.”
As well as the chipped tooth, she suffered a bloody and scratched earlobe and red scratches on her right shoulder and neck.
Corie said she eventually let him back in the house after a separation but they divorced in 2014.
The mum of one told The Sun she also had suspicions about him during their five-year marriage and added: “I am very trusting.
“Ryan would say he was off hunting with friends, then later I’d see a bank statement and it would show a hotel stay. I would then find out his friends did not go hunting.
“Other times I would be out babysitting and when I got home there would be a wine glass with lipstick on it.”
Dubbing Bane a “narcissist”, she added: “His friends had no idea what he was really like. I had been plotting how to end our marriage for a long time.
“Once I called the police in the 2011 assault, I took my ring off and never put it back on.
“If you met him, you would think he was a great guy. It was very different behind closed doors.”
Officers are now scouring CCTV from local businesses which could help them find out what happened.
The FBI team, headed by local agent Richard Dominguez, is now involved in the hunt for Sarm.
Police from the neighbouring British Virgin Islands police are also assisting.
One of Bane’s close friends on St John spoke to him hours before he suddenly moved his yacht — and he insisted that Bane was just scared.
The pal claimed he was not prepared to let police search his yacht because he was worried about being framed by local officers.
The friend said: “I had a brief conversation with him and he’s feeling terrible. I mean, all-round horrible over Sarm and people pointing the finger at him. He is scared, he’s totally spun out.”
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Bane’s lawyer, David Cattie, said US Coast Guard officers had interviewed his client, adding: “Ryan’s thoughts are with Sarm and her family at this time. He is praying for her safe return.”
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Sarm’s loved ones, including mum and dad Peter and Brenda, are also still anxiously waiting for news.
Her best friend Andrew said: “For us, this is only about finding Sarm alive.”
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