British man jailed after wife disappeared on honeymoon

A MAN whose wife disappeared while they honeymooned at sea was yesterday sentenced by a federal judge to eight years in prison.

Lewis Bennett, 42, apologised to the family of Isabella Hellman during a hearing yesterday before District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami.

Defence attorneys sought a sevenyear sentence, a year less than the maximum number spelt out in a plea agreement on an involuntary manslaughter charge reached last November.

“It’s not because I expect that he will commit this crime again,” Judge Moreno said. “Sentencing is for punishment.”

Before Mr Moreno announced his decision, Bennett, a dual British-australian

‘Bennett did not search for his wife diligently enough despite him being an experienced sailor’

citizen, asked the judge that he let him get out of prison sooner so he could continue to bring up the couple’s daughter, who was an infant when the mother vanished.

Emelia Bennett turns three in July and is being cared for by her father’s family in Scotland.

“If you may permit me to be with my daughter as soon as possible...” Bennett said. “I want to bring her up in a manner that is respectful to my wife’s wishes.”

But Mr Moreno sided with prosecutors and chose eight years in prison as the sentence and three years on supervised release.

Hellman disappeared as the couple sailed off the Bahamas in May 2017.

Her husband insisted he left Hellman on deck when he went to the boat’s cabin to sleep. He said he woke up when the craft hit something, and Hellman was missing.

The FBI says the catamaran’s portholes were opened and the hull damaged from the inside.

Kurt Lunkenheimer, the US assistant attorney, said yesterday that Bennett “did not search for her diligently enough despite him being an experienced sailor”.

An attorney for Hellman’s family said her relatives were satisfied with the judge’s decision.