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.
