Coastguard officials were unable to record Sarm Heslop’s friend’s call to report her missing

The botched Coast Guard officials did not record the call from Sarm Heslop’s friend reporting her missing because of a “disturbing” error in the investigation, MailOnline is able to reveal tomorrow ahead of the second anniversary of her disappearance.

It turns out the US Coast Guard didn’t record Ryan Bane calling 911 when she disappeared, as she should have.

The agency blamed a “fault in the system” that deprived Ms Heslop’s family of a vital piece of evidence.

Ms Hislop, 42, was last seen with Bane on March 8, 2021 in the US Virgin Islands.

Her mother, Brenda Street, said in a statement that “the inconsistencies in this investigation have concerned me from the start. Something doesn’t add up’.

Southampton-born Mrs. Heslop, a former flight attendant, disappeared without a trace on the island of St. John.

She was last seen with Bane, 44, at a restaurant near the dock of his catamaran, the Siren Song.

Sarm Heslop from Southampton, who disappeared on the Siren Song, a catamaran owned and operated by her American friend Ryan Bane

Ryan Bane’s luxury 47-foot catamaran, named Siren Song, is docked in Frank Bay on St. John in the US Virgin Islands. Bane, 44, is the boyfriend of missing Brit Sarm Heslop

Ryan Bane, the boyfriend of missing Brit Sarm Heslop’s US boat captain, is seen here in a police mugshot in 2011 after he assaulted his ex-wife

Heslop (right) is pictured with her friend Kate Owen. The couple moved to the Caribbean together. Kate has now hired British detectives to investigate her friend’s disappearance

Bane said he was sleeping on the boat when Sarm disappeared and was woken up at 2 a.m. by the boat’s anchor alarm, which sounds when the ship has drifted too far.

But he waited nine hours before calling the US Coast Guard despite being told to do so by police.

MailOnline requested Bane’s 911 recording, which was made at 11:46 am on March 8 last year under the US Freedom of Information Act.

The Coast Guard initially said the recording was accidentally erased.

But in a letter, JL Suarez, a lawyer for the agency, said: “The call in question was never recorded due to a bug in the system.

“Therefore, the information contained in my (previous) letter regarding the deletion of the sound recording was incorrect”.

Police in the US Virgin Islands have not responded to requests from MailOnline for more information about the case, including requests for public records, which they are required by law to respond to.

That includes the call Bane made to police in the islands in the early hours of March 8 – crucial evidence Ms Heslop’s family is keen to make public.

After promising an interview to one of the detectives, their media officer stopped responding to emails and phone calls.

Ms Heslop’s parents said they were “absolutely disappointed” at the lack of progress in the investigation.

In a statement to MailOnline, Ms Street said: “We were told that CCTV in the area was not working due to a power outage on the island.

“We were shown some CCTV footage purporting to show Sarm and Ryan walking back to their dinghy, but it was turned off before I could see them getting on the boat and these footage have never been released publicly. And now we discover that the 911 call Ryan made to the Coast Guard was never recorded! Something doesn’t add up’.

Ryan Bane had been with Ms Heslop for eight months – sat aboard Siren Song, his yacht – and was on holiday with her when she went missing in March 2021

Bane (above) is the only person of interest in the case but has not surfaced since detectives admitted losing track of him in early July 2021. Pictured: Bane on his boat in March 2021

The text message, sent to Brenda Street, arrived around 11am one morning and was short and devoid of emotion. “This is Ryan Bane, Sarm’s friend,” it said. “Please call me”

She added: “It is becoming ever more frustrating and galling to realize that VIPD’s ‘ongoing investigation’ is going nowhere. The lack of updates and correspondence from the VIPD leads me to believe they are not caring police officers or actually human beings.

Bane – who is not a suspect – was allowed to sail away from St Thomas and has reportedly renamed the Siren Song and is attempting to sell the ship for £170,000.

In March last year, Ms Heslop’s distraught parents traveled to the US Virgin Islands to demand answers as to why Bane wasn’t even questioned by police.

They have urged British police to examine and forensically examine their belongings.

Ms Heslop’s best friend Kate Owen said the family wanted “more than anything in the world” for British police to get involved.

She has said: “There has been no investigation on this side and over there has not given us any answers.

“We are no clearer about what happened that night than we were at the beginning. We need them to get involved.”

Bane’s whereabouts are currently unknown and an attorney representing him did not respond to a request for comment.

He had hired famous lawyer David Cattie – who represented Ghislaine Maxwell – within days of Ms Heslop’s disappearance.

Cattie previously said the Coast Guard conducted an “on-site inspection of the vessel” and an “unreserved interview” and that Bane, “devastated” and “heartbroken” by Sarm’s disappearance, gave her her personal belongings, including her phone. iPad and passport to the police.

He has denied Bane was involved in any wrongdoing and said he was “heartbroken” over Ms Heslop’s disappearance.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk