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.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
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In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
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US troops accused of ‘political stunt’ after park raid
Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
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Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
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Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
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