The boyfriend of a missing British yachtswoman who disappeared in 2021 has broken his silence to deny suggestions of guilt and declare the pair were a ‘loving, caring couple’.
In an extraordinary five-page ‘open letter’, Ryan Bane, 49, claimed he has been unfairly vilified and placed under a ‘false sense of suspicion’ ever since Sarm Heslop vanished from his yacht in the US Virgin Islands in March 2021.
‘The truth is simple: I wanted to protect myself and followed my attorney’s legal advice to safeguard my rights,’ he wrote, defending his decision to hire a lawyer, refuse questioning, and blocking police from forensically searching his yacht Siren Song.
‘My decision was framed as suspicious rather than prudent,’ he insisted.
The comments come days after a BBC documentary, Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm, aired newly released CCTV footage showing the couple together just six hours before the 41-year-old vanished.
The footage, filmed on March 7, 2021, shows Sarm and Bane strolling hand-in-hand along a dockside in St John before boarding a dinghy and heading back to Siren Song.
‘The CCTV shows Sarm and me as a loving, caring couple on the night she disappeared. We are seen hand-in-hand, affectionate and relaxed,’ Bane said, adding that the film also confirmed his earlier account of what she had been wearing.
It was the last sighting of Sarm alive. Bane later told police he was awoken by the anchor alarm sounding at 2am before finding his girlfriend gone.
British sailor Sarm Heslop went missing on March 8, 2021, in the US Virgin Islands of St John and was last seen by her boyfriend Ryan Bane
Ryan Bane, 49, claimed he has been unfairly vilified and placed under a ‘false sense of suspicion’ ever since Sarm Heslop vanished from his yacht in the US Virgin Islands in March 2021. Pictured: American Bane walking his dog on the US Virgin Islands in 2021
His lawyer suggested she may have hit her head and fallen overboard, or gone swimming and drowned.
But questions have long swirled around his behaviour in the crucial hours after she vanished. Bane called police at 2:30am to report her missing – yet waited nine hours before contacting the US Coast Guard.
In his letter, addressed to investigative journalists, Bane railed against what he called unfair coverage.
He accused the media of omitting ‘crucial facts, presented misleading narratives and ignored court records that direct contradict the storyline advanced in the media’.
The BBC defended its documentary, saying it had been ‘rigorously researched and made in line with the highest editorial standards and legal guidance’.
Bane also hit back at claims he failed to join the search for Sarm, saying: ‘That is not true… no one observed signs of a fight, no evidence of an argument, and nothing on my person – such as scratches or marks – that would suggest a struggle’.
He then pointed the finger at investigators, citing ‘serious gaps in the official handling of the case that should not be ignored’, including the 911 call and the absence of an initial police report.
‘This lack of timely reporting and the loss of crucial evidence created open holes in the official record – holes that have fuelled speculation ever since,’ he said.
Yet, Bane declined to release evidence uncovered by a private investigator he had hired, claiming it could help but refusing to make it public.
Meanwhile, scrutiny of his violent past has resurfaced.
Court records show Bane was convicted of misdemeanour domestic violence against his ex-wife, Cori Stevenson, in 2011 and sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Stevenson, who divorced him in 2014, has previously attempted to obtain protection orders, though they were denied.
Bane admitted to the conviction, but said: ‘I categorically deny any allegation that I harmed or murdered Sarm.’
His ex-wife was scathing in her own response. ‘His focus is on clearing his name. Nothing to do with finding Sarm,’ she told The Times.
The last recorded CCTV sighting of Sarm Heslop from her boyfriend’s £500,000 catamaran yacht on March 7, 2021
‘He abused me… I’ve had to go through quite a bit of therapy to realise what happened to me and how horrendous it really was. I’m older and much smarter now. ‘
She added: ‘He wants to embarrass me. If he did this 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I would have absolutely died. Crawled under a rock and died. But I’m not that same person.’
Bane also lashed out at police for branding him a ‘person of interest’, a phrase he claims has no legal weight.
‘It is not a charge, not a finding… “Person of interest” is legally meaningless and carries no standing in court or under the law. Leaving that out [of reporting] only perpetuated a false sense of suspicion,’ he said.
It comes after Sarm’s mother begged Donald Trump to step in and quiz Bane over her daughter’s mystery disappearance.
Brenda Street, still desperate for answers, has called on the help of the US president to ‘push’ for an investigation to be ‘properly’ carried out.
She told The Mirror: ‘I think Trump is likely to do more than anyone else so far. I’d like him to push for the investigation to be done properly – to appeal for Bane to come forward and to order a forensic search of his yacht.
‘It makes me very angry and disappointed that Bane has not been brought in for formal questioning.
‘He is wandering around doing his own thing while we’ve put our lives on hold. If [Trump] could put out an appeal that’d be amazing.’
Street has alleged that if her daughter’s partner had nothing to hide, he would co-operate with the authorities.
She added that if his ‘conscience is clear’, he would provide a ‘minute-by-minute account’ to police, adding: ‘He’s the only person of interest because there was nobody else around.’
