Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MISSING SARM BOAT FOR SALE
Erasing of yacht’s name ‘airbrushes her from history’
LOVER
EXCLUSIVE BY PATRICK HILL
THE yacht Sarm Heslop was living on when she went missing is up for sale – with its infamous name scrubbed off the hull.
Catamaran Siren Song is being sold for £220,000 by wealthy owner Ryan Bane, Sarm’s former lover, who claims she vanished from the 47ft boat as he slept.
Bane, 44, is selling the Leopard 47 through a broker on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where he now lives.
He has scrubbed its name from the hull and the ad makes no mention of its role in her disappearance.
Bane claimed he last saw former Southampton air hostess Sarm, 41, on the boat after they had a night out in the US Virgin Islands on March 8.
But he has repeatedly Boat is for sale through online broker denied police requests to major piece of evidence in the search it in a hunt for clues. police investigation.
A source told the Sunday “It feels like Sarm is being Mirror: “No one buying this airbrushed from history. boat would realise its signifi- “It’s very frustrating. We all cance or that it could be a feel useless and have no idea what to do next.” The online advert posted by international yacht broker Boatshed Grenada includes 100 photos of the inside and outside of the vessel, as well as two videos.
It says the sale is due to the owner having “moved on to land”. Sarm and Bane, from Michigan, were last seen leaving a bar on the island of St John at around 10pm on March 7, heading to the catamaran.
Bane, who has a conviction for assaulting his ex-wife in 2011, called 911 at 2.30am to report Sarm missing. But police say they have found no evidence she ever returned to the boat, moored in Frank Bay.
The US Coast Guard has charged Bane with obstructing law enforcement agents who boarded the vessel.
It is claimed he stood blocking a doorway and told officers they could not go inside. He also rejected police requests to speak to him.
The investigation has also been hampered by CCTV being knocked out through a freak power outage in the venue where they were last seen.