Sarm Heslop’s boyfriend has been ‘LOST’ by cops as detectives issue desperate appeal for him to ‘tell us what happened’
POLICE urged the boyfriend of missing Brit Sarm Heslop to "tell us what you know" after admitting to "losing" him.
Police issued a fresh appeal for American Skipper Ryan Bane to explain what happened on the night of the Sarm's disappearance.
The intrepid Brit was last seen on Bane's boat on March 8 when it was moored off the US Virgin Islands.
USVI police department spokesman Toby Derima told : "I appeal to him now to contact us. I want to appeal to his conscience, to let us know what happened the night Sarm disappeared.
"He is a person of interest to us and he is the only person of interest. We are not looking for anyone else."
Police believe Bane could be hiding somewhere in the Caribbean islands.
Sarm, 41, from Southampton, had gone to bed on March 7 after having dinner with 44-year-old Bane on the island of St John.
Bane apparently woke up at 2am on March 8 when the anchor alarm on the charter yacht, which was moored about 100ft offshore, went off and he discovered his partner had disappeared.
Bane has since acquired a lawyer and is not allowing police to search his 47-foot catamaran say Virgin Islands police.
"Upon his attorney’s advice, Mr. Bane exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and denied officers’ requests to search the vessel," a police department spokesperson said in March.
It has also been claimed Bane alerted the US Coast Guard 11.46am, some 10 hours after the Brit's disappearance.
Andrew Baldwin, 41, a friend of Ms Heslop for 25 years, told : "This timeline just does not make sense to us.
"We know that Mr Bane called the local police at 2.30am and was told to call the coastguard.
"The coastguard was reported as saying that it was alerted to her disappearance by Mr Bane at 11.46am on Monday.
"We know they had dinner in a local restaurant and left at 10pm. What we don’t know is what happened in those intervening hours.
"She is savvy and sensible, it’s not like her at all, it just doesn’t add up."
He has previously told Fox News it was "incredibly difficult" to believe she fell off the boat.
Bane's lawyer, David Cattie, said that his client immediately called 911 when he realised his girlfriend was missing at around 2.30am.
A close friend of Sarm’s, who did not want to be named, told the Sun that her friend’s phone, passport and belongings had all been left on the boat, where she had been living with her boyfriend.
“She would not just disappear, leaving no trace,” she said.
"Sarm is super smart, level-headed and super well travelled. And she's 41 - she has a good head on her shoulders.”
Another friend suggested the flight assistant was a capable swimmer.
"Sarm’s a really strong swimmer,” Kate Owen said.
“If she’d fallen in she would have been able to get herself back out quickly and she wouldn’t have gone in alone, especially not in the dark and after drinking.
“The sea life in the bay is quite active and she would have been hesitant over sharks. Also, when you’ve spent as long as she has on a boat in the Caribbean, jumping in the sea from the deck loses its novelty.”
A dog walker on the island of St John reportedly heard a scream during the time the woman vanished.
A massive hunt has been underway since she disappeared.
The Virgin Islands Police Department said it is continuing the search for her, including conducting searches multiple times daily and going through hours of surveillance video that may shed light on her disappearance.
Divers have joined a huge search for Sarm, who is originally from Hertford, with the local community rallying together to help.
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Sarm, who has previously worked as a flight attendant and in call centres, had been living on the Siren Song for a number of months with her boyfriend.
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The vessel, which her boyfriend owns, is rented out to charter guests who she takes on a tour of the islands for around £5,000-a-week.
It was estimated to be worth around £500,000.