Sarm Heslop: Mother of British woman missing in US Virgin Islands asks President Biden for help finding her daughter
The family of a British woman who has been missing for three years in the US Virgin Islands are pleading for help from President Biden to find her.
Sarm Heslop, a former air hostess from Southampton, was living what seemed to be her dream life in the US Virgin Islands, a group of Caribbean islands known for their white sand and turquoise waters.
She had moved to be with her new boyfriend, Ryan Bane, and the pair were living and working together on Mr Bane’s boat, named Siren Song.
But in March 2021, in the dead of night, the 41-year-old disappeared from the catamaran. Three years on she’s still officially missing, but her mother Brenda Street now believes she was killed.
Sarm Heslop was last seen aboard her boyfriend’s catamaran
“I do believe she was murdered,” Ms Street told Sky News. “There are places where people can be put in the ocean and never found. I believe that’s what happened. I’d like to just bring her home, I can grieve then. I haven’t grieved because I don’t have her, and I don’t know how to.”
Ms Heslop and Mr Bane had been out at a sports bar in Frank Bay, St John, the night before she went missing. Mr Bane reported Ms Heslop missing to the Virgin Islands Police Department at 2.30am the following morning, saying he woke up to find her gone.
He was advised to tell the coastguard but didn’t do so, reportedly, until nine hours later. When they eventually boarded the boat, a coastguard report alleges he was “highly intoxicated” and prevented a search of the cabin.
Island police have never interviewed Mr Bane, never forensically searched the boat and refused assistance from the FBI.
“They’ve not done their jobs as police officers, not done their job as human beings,” Ms Street said.
Speaking from Essex, where she now lives, Ms Street called for the US authorities to remove the case from the Virgin Islands police.
“I emailed President Biden,” she said. “But he didn’t reply. I’m asking for his assistance, for some department of his to help us.”
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Brenda Street, Ms Heslop’s mother
Family recruit former Met Police homicide commander
The family have recruited a former Metropolitan Police homicide commander, David Johnston, to assist in the search for Ms Heslop. He has written to Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to urge him to push the US authorities to oversee the Virgin Islands Police Department investigation.
Mr Johnston said: “What I think we really need now is for David Cameron as the foreign secretary to hold his counterpart in the US, who’s the secretary of state for the interior, to account, to demand the governor on the island, please give clear and unambiguous answers to the family regarding what they’ve done or what else could be done. And to consider the formal interview of the boyfriend to ask him what happened that night.”
Ryan Bane
Boyfriend has domestic violence conviction
Mr Bane has a domestic violence conviction. In 2011 he was jailed for assaulting his ex-wife, Cori Stephenson.
In a statement, a lawyer for Mr Bane said: “While we empathise with Sarm’s family’s frustration, Ryan Bane had nothing to do with Sarm’s disappearance. Ryan is heartbroken that Sarm went missing… The coastguard was twice on the vessel conducting a search and questioning Ryan. They had unfettered access to the vessel and Ryan answered all questions posed to him.”
A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are assisting the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in the US Virgin Islands and are in contact with the US Virgin Islands Police and the US coastguard.”
The Virgin Islands Police Department didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
Kate’s ’emotional’ words for tearful tennis star
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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