A British woman has disappeared in the US Virgin Islands. Her American boyfriend stopped working together.

Police have been desperately searching for Sarm Heslop, a British flight attendant who disappeared from a boat off the coast of the US Virgin Islands for almost two weeks.

However, the search became increasingly difficult after her American boyfriend, 44-year-old Ryan Bane, stopped cooperating with the police and forbade them to search the vessel. To make matters worse, Bane appears to have a history of domestic violence, his ex-wife said in a new interview.

Now Heslop’s friends and family are fed up.

“We are shocked and upset that Sarm is missing. “We want the assurance that the authorities in the Virgin Islands are doing everything possible to locate her and that the investigation into the disappearance of our beautiful and cherished daughter includes a comprehensive search for the boat,” her family said in a statement. statement said Saturday.

‘Our daughter is a British citizen and we ask for all the support that the British authorities provide. We will never stop looking for Sarm, and we still have the hope of finding her safe. ‘

Police in the Virgin Islands say the 41-year-old Heslop was last seen on March 7 on the vessel Siren Song, which is owned by Bane, after the couple went out to eat. Hours later, around 2:30 a.m., Bane called the authorities to report her missing.

When officers arrived at the boat, moored in Frank Bay, St. John, Bane said the couple from St. Thomas sailed off and went to bed around 10pm. Bane explained that he woke up about four hours later from the ship’s anchor alarm. , and noticed that his girlfriend was gone.

But shortly after officers conducted an initial land search and asked Bane to contact the U.S. Coast Guard, the 44-year-old native of Michigan became a lawyer and barred police from his boat. The U.S. Coast Guard said it was first notified of the incident on March 8 at about 11:46 a.m. – when Bane called to say his girlfriend may have fallen off the 47-foot catamaran.

“Shortly after Mrs Heslop was reported missing, Mr. Jobs obtained the services of a lawyer, ‘a police spokesman said in a statement. “On the advice of his lawyer, Mr Bane denied his constitutional right to remain silent and denied the officers’ requests to search the vessel.”

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Heslop’s friends and family are furious about Bane’s decision not to cooperate with authorities.

Andrew Baldwin, who has known Heslop for more than 25 years, said in a statement that the ‘timeline’ of the disappearance of his best friend ‘does not make sense’.

“We know they ate at a local restaurant and left at 10pm. What we do not know is what happened in the meantime,” the 41-year-old said in a statement, noting that Jobs took almost ten hours to call the Coast Guard that evening.

Baldwin added that Heslop’s’ phone, passport and everything [her] belongings were left on the boat ”and insisted that she would not just disappear and leave no trace. ”

“She’s smart and sensible, it’s not like her at all, it just does not matter,” he said, adding that he found it extremely suspicious that Bane’s lawyer was soliciting requests from local officials to search the boat. refused.

‘Since Sarm with mr. Jobs has lived on the boat and claims she disappeared from the boat, this is of course the first place the police can search. “We are struggling to understand why he, as we hear, would not allow it, and we continue to ask for a thorough investigation into Siren Song, as Sarm went missing almost two weeks ago,” Baldwin added.

“We call for an urgent and immediate investigation into this incident, because her friends here at home are devastated and just need her disappearance to be given a critical priority, because there are also many differences in the timeline of what we heard. “

But Bane’s lawyer, David Cattie, insisted that Bane’s timeline was not suspicious – and that after contacting 911 on March 8, he ‘traveled to meet members of the [Virgin Islands Police Department] to make a statement about Sarm. ”

“Later that morning, at the request of Mr. Bane, the U.S. Coast Guard came to Mr. Bane’s vessel (Siren Song),” Cattie told Fox News in a statement. ‘Several USCG officers went on board and interviewed Mr. Lanes lined up on the vessel. Mr. Bane transferred her personal belongings at the request of Sarm’s family [the Virgin Islands Police Department], including her cell phone, iPad, passport, etc. ”

However, the lawyer did not want to comment on why his client no longer spoke to the police. Cattie did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

For Cori Stevenson, her ex-husband’s decision not to cooperate is suspicious – but not all that surprising, given his alleged violent past. In an interview with CrimeOnline, Stevenson said Bane was allegedly abusive during their six-year relationship that ended in 2014.

The alleged abuse yielded at least one police report in 2011, and Bane was charged with simple assault against Stevenson. Stevenson told CrimeOnline she was communicating with Virgin Islands police about her ex-husband’s past.

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