Prosecutors argue that Lewis Bennett, from Dorset, and his wife, Isabella Hellman, were ‘consistently’ rowing

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A British sailor murdered his wife and deliberately sank their catamaran in the Caribbean to inherit her estate, prosecutors in the US have alleged.

Lewis Bennett, of Poole, Dorset, was smuggling rare stolen coins when he was rescued alone off the coast of Cuba without his wife Isabella Hellmann in May 2017.

Hellmann’s body has not been found and the FBI have charged Bennett with her murder.

Court papers filed in the US this week alleged that Hellmann’s family bugged her apartment in Delray Beach, Florida, to listen to Bennett’s conversations because they suspected him in her disappearance.

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The newlyweds were sailing towards their home in America last year when Bennett made an SOS call saying the 41-year-old former estate agent was missing and the vessel was sinking.

Prosecutor Benjamin Greenberg asked a Florida judge to admit into evidence conversations with loved ones where Hellmann is said to have discussed rows over a mooted move to Australia, their dire finances and the raising of their daughter.

He argued they show the pair were “consistently” rowing, with “potentially one of the arguments ultimately resulting in the murder of Hellmann”.

“Hellmann’s murder would remove the marital strife from the defendant’s life, allow the defendant to live his life as he pleased, and would enable him to inherit money from Hellmann’s estate, all of which provide strong circumstantial proof that the defendant had a strong motive to murder Hellmann,” Greenberg continued.

If Hellmann is declared to be dead – as Bennett, 41, has requested – he would inherit her apartment and the contents of her bank account.

Prosecutors also alleged she may have discovered he was in possession of the gold and silver coins stolen from his former employer in St Maarten – action that could have made her an accomplice in the crime.

This “potentially led to an intense argument resulting in Hellmann’s murder”, Greenberg wrote.

The FBI accused the Briton, who also has Australian citizenship, of intentionally scuttling the 37ft vessel. He is serving a seven-month jail term after admitting transporting the coins worth $38,480 (£29,450).

Bennett is due to go on trial accused of second degree murder in December.