The American boyfriend of a British woman who vanished from a yacht two weeks ago has prevented officers from searching the vessel, police say.
Sarm Heslop, 41, vanished from a boat moored off St John in the US Virgin Islands in the early hours of March 8.
She returned to the catamaran - named “Siren Song” - at 10pm the previous evening with boyfriend Ryan Bane, 44, after the couple had dinner together.
Bane claims he woke up to find the former air hostess missing at around 2.30am so raised the alarm with police, who told him to also call the coastguard.
But Mr Bane, allegedly failed to do so until roughly 11.46am, a nine-hour delay.
Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) spokesman Toby Derima said officers had performed an “initial land search” after speaking with Mr Bane and had instructed him to contact the US coastguard.
“Soon after reporting Ms Heslop missing, Mr Bane acquired the services of an attorney,” he said.
“Upon his attorney’s advice, Mr Bane exercised his constitutional right to remain silent and denied officers’ requests to search the vessel.”
A statement on a website set up to find Sarm said: “We remain confused about the timeline and continue to ask for a thorough search of Siren Song.”
Ms Heslop’s family has said they will “never give up looking for Sarm and still have hope of finding her safe”.
Ms Heslop is described as a white female of average built and height.
She has a southern English accent with a butterfly tattoo on her left shoulder.
