By Patrick Hill
Missing British sailor Sarm Heslop’s heartbroken mum has revealed for the first time she is convinced her girl was murdered.
Speaking ahead of the third anniversary of the 41-year-old’s disappearance from her boyfriend’s yacht, Brenda Street also says she believes the police probe in the Caribbean has been hampered by corruption and desperate attempts to protect tourism. And she vows to carry on fighting to uncover the truth until she gets justice for Sarm.
Her voice quivering with emotion, Brenda, 67, says: “I don’t believe Sarm just went missing. I believe she was murdered. I want justice for her. I want to bring her home so I know where she is – she deserves that.”
Former Flybe air hostess Sarm, from Essex, was living with her wealthy American boyfriend Ryan Bane on his £500,000 yacht after matching on dating app Tinder eight months earlier. She vanished after a night out with Bane on the US Virgin Island of St John on March 8, 2021. Three years on, local police appear to be no closer to discovering what happened to her.
And Brenda reveals detectives have refused to speak to her or Sarm’s father Peter for more than a year, despite their repeated pleas. She says: “I think corruption on the island has affected this case. There’s too many things that don’t make sense and don’t add up. When we went to the island people wouldn’t speak to us about Sarm and on the posters asking for information someone had gone round and scrubbed out the number to call. I know it could be to do with protecting tourism, but listen – my beautiful daughter has gone missing and I don’t give a s*** about how it affects tourism.”
The US Virgin Islands force is also callously ignoring requests for information from British investigator David Johnston – a former Metropolitan Police Commander of Homicide and Serious Crime who is now working for the family on a pro-bono basis, Brenda claims. She says: “I feel let down by the police on the island. If this had happened in the UK I believe the investigation would have been very different. There have been repeated failures by them and I don’t believe they’re doing anything at the moment. They’re definitely not doing their job. I think they’re just sitting back on their heels hoping we’re going to go away, but we’re not going away... not until we find out what happened.”
Brenda and Peter held a meeting with island officials – including the Commissioner of Police Ray Martinez, Governor Albert Bryan Jr and US Coast Guard Lt Cmdr Jan League – on the first anniversary of Sarm’s disappearance. But the pair were left unimpressed by the 2022 discussions.
Brenda says: “At that meeting I suggested to them, ‘Could she have been trafficked?’ They said, ‘No, that doesn’t happen here on the island’. Well, it bloody does. They just said, ‘We’ll look into it’. I shouldn’t have to tell them what to look into. They should be looking into all angles. It’s crazy.”
Today Brenda is making a renewed appeal for police to publicly release CCTV footage of Sarm from the night she disappeared and to hand back her phone and iPad. She says: “People may be able to spot something important.”
Speaking at her home in Ongar, Essex, where she is surrounded by memories of Sarm, Brenda opens up about her hatred for her daughter’s boyfriend Ryan Bane, who has refused to help the investigation.
Although she is not accusing Bane of having any part in her daughter’s death, she believes he has prevented her family from finding out what happened to her. Bane, who has a conviction for assaulting his ex-wife, called 911 at 2.30am on the night of Sarm’s disappearance and reported that he had been woken by the boat’s anchor alarm and found her missing.
He was advised to contact the US Coast Guard – but did not do so until nine hours had passed. Later he was accused of obstructing Coast Guard agents who tried to board his boat by blocking a door. He has since refused requests to co-operate with the authorities.
Under US law, Bane – the last person known to have seen Sarm and described as “person of interest” by police – can stay silent and officers must show “probable cause” to get a search warrant. Brenda, who was initially in contact with him before she says he blocked her phone number just days after Sarm’s disappearance, is disgusted by his behaviour.
She says: “I’m not saying he’s done anything to Sarm, but Bane needs to answer questions. He’s never been formally interviewed.
“I believe had he spoken to the police and let them search the boat, the authorities would have gone on to find Sarm. Alive or dead, I don’t know, but I think we would have got answers. I can’t even say his first name. I feel hatred towards him. I can’t even look at pictures of him. It makes me feel sick. He is continuing his life as normal without ever having been formally questioned and given his history of violence against women it’s very upsetting.”
Three years on, Brenda is still grieving hard. This year, for the first time since her disappearance, she got a birthday card for Sarm. She wrote inside it “Always in my heart” before putting the card up inside her home beside her daughter’s picture.
Brenda says: “It helped me to write it down to her, but I haven’t been able to find any closure. I think about Sarm every day and I get upset every day.” Through tears, she adds: “If Bane has any decency, he’ll talk to the police and tell them and us everything he knows. If he doesn’t come forward, I hope it eats away at him.”
Bane’s lawyer David Cattie said: “Mr Bane is heartbroken over Sarm’s disappearance. We certainly understand and empathise with her mother’s pain and frustration.
“Mr Bane called 911 immediately upon waking and finding Sarm was not on board. He took his dinghy to shore to meet with VIPD that night and called the USCG the next day when no one appeared at his boat. He also had the USCG on his vessel twice following Sarm’s disappearance.
“Later Mr Bane and I personally took all of Sarm’s belongings to the police, including all of her electronic devices.”
