Missing banker would not have faked death, insists his wife

The wife of a wealthy banker missing since his light aircraft crashed into the Channel today dismissed suggestions that he had faked his own death.

Sascha Schornstein, 36, from Knightsbridge, has not been seen since his single-engine aircraft came down off the coast of Kent a week ago.

Investigators pulled a small amount of wreckage from the sea but have found no trace of the financier’s body, parachute or flight data.

Hampshire police said the incident was being treated as a missing persons inquiry and have an “open mind” over what took place.

The force is running background checks on his mobile phone, bank accounts and credit cards that could indicate if he is still alive.

But asked if she thought Mr Schornstein could have faked his own death, his wife Yulia, 28, told the Standard: “No, he was a responsible person who knew what he was doing.

“Flying was his passion and he was German and had that attention to detail so I’m sure that something unexpected must have happened.”

The banker, who lived in an £850,000 apartment, worked for RBS in its commodity finance department.

Mrs Schornstein added: “We are very happy and money was not a problem. There are really no problems. He was very busy at work and he was working one night until 4am.

“He often stayed late in the office and was working on something that was going to finish in July and we were going on holiday to France in August for my birthday.”

Police have released a photograph of Mr Schornstein and appealed to anyone who might have spotted him over the past week or who may have important information to get in touch.

Despite an extensive search by British and French authorities, only about 10 to 15 per cent of the wreckage of the Cirrus plane has been recovered, including parts of the wings, fuselage and doors.

Mr Schornstein had taken off from Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire en route to Le Touquet in France before apparently crashing off Dungeness.

His wife, a Russian national, has now launched a campaign to raise £10,000 to organise a three-day search using a GPS and a sonar-equipped dive vessel to help her solve the mystery.

Mr Schornstein had been living in London since 2001 and was a graduate of the London School of Economics.

Writing on Facebook, Mrs Schornstein, who works in the hotel industry, said: “I do not believe that it is happening in reality. I want to wake up but I can’t. It is very important for me to find Sascha and understand what happened that day.”

Officers have not found anything to suggest Mr Schornstein would have faked a crash. A spokesman said that in the absence of a body it was routine to conduct a missing persons inquiry.