THE handwritten note on the door of missing honeymooner Isabella Hellmann’s home said it all: “We are very happy that he has been arrested.”

It was put at the £80,000 three-bedroom home by her family, just hours after her British husband Lewis Bennett had been charged with killing her on their yacht during their romantic voyage she had labelled paradise.

9 Lewis Bennett has been charged with killing wife Isabella Hellmann on their yacht

9 The murder charges have devastated Isabella's family, who hoped they would see her again Credit: Facebook

But the murder rap is a mixed blessing — for it also means the family must accept Isabella is dead.

This week her sister, Dayana Rodriguez, 27, exclusively told The Sun: “This is a very painful time for us.”

Sobbing on the steps of her home in Boca Raton, Florida, she continued: “I am very upset that this is happening because we were hoping to see Isabella again. But with these charges there is no hope. Every time we just try to talk about Isabella it is like somebody is sticking a knife in our hearts.”

Of her British brother-in-law, she added: “I have nothing to say about him. It is too hard.”

9 A letter from the family of Isabella expressed their delight at Bennett getting charged with her murder

9 Isabella had described their romantic voyage as 'paradise'

Bennett, 41, from Poole, Dorset, claimed their luxury catamaran had hit a mystery object in the shark-infested waters of the Atlantic and that she must have been swept overboard while he was sleeping below deck.

But FBI agents believe he killed her on the boat to drain her bank account and take the beachside flat she owned for himself.

On examining his sunken vessel, experts concluded two holes in both hulls were caused from INSIDE. And a pair of escape hatches below the waterline, appear­ed to have been left OPEN. A criminal complaint, from FBI Special Agent James Kelley in Miami, said the escape hatches “should never be open” while the boat is in the water. And “Bennett never mentioned seeing the portholes open.”

9 Movements of the yacht captained by honeymooners Bennett and Hellmann

An associate professor at the US Coast Guard Academy concluded the boat was “intentionally scuttled”.

Bennett admitted not even looking for or shouting for his wife when he could not find her.

And it emerged that just ONE DAY after the search for her had been called off, he filed a “letter of presumed death” — to make it easier to sort out her finances. The letter was rejected as Florida law states a person cannot be declared legally dead until missing for at least five years.

A clincher for investigators was Bennett’s satellite phone.

They discovered he had activated it and registered his personal locator beacon just before the final leg of their doomed journey.

9 FBI Special Agent James Kelley in Miami, said the escape hatches should never be open while the boat is in the water

The FBI complaint said that was “indicative of the fact he wanted to ensure his own rescue and survival after murdering his wife and intentionally scuttling his catamaran”.

The saga began early on May 15 last year. The US Coastguard responded to a series of satellite phone calls for help and an emergency beacon activated 26 miles off the Bahamas.

Three hours later, at 4am, mining engineer Bennett was found in a liferaft with a suitcase and several backpacks. He explained he had been honeymooning around the Caribbean islands with his wife of three months on 37ft Surf Into Summer.

They had left their 18-month-old daughter Emilia — then nine months old — in Florida with her relatives.

9 The letter was tacked onto the door of the £80,000 three-bedroom home by Isabella's family Credit: Alexander Morris

Bennett told authorities they left from Varadero, Cuba, on the final leg of their trip. They were headed to Key West or Fort Lauderdale — the yacht was on autopilot towards Florida as they hadn’t made up their mind — when he went to bed at 8pm. He left Isabella at the helm but woke with a start hours later when the vessel hit an “unknown object”.

There was no sign of his 41-year-old Colombian-American wife, so he says he leapt into his liferaft when the boat began taking on water.

For three days choppers, planes and lifeboats combed 5,000 square miles of ocean but found no trace of her, despite Bennett claiming she was wearing a life jacket.

The couple, who met online in 2015, had married on a whim during a holiday to Atlanta that ­February, having had Emilia the previous July.

HOW THE SAGA UNFOLDED April 30, 2017 : Isabella flies to the Caribbean island of St Maarten to join Bennett for their honeymoon.

: Isabella flies to the Caribbean island of St Maarten to join Bennett for their honeymoon. May 2 : Her final Facebook post from Puerto Rico is a picture captioned: “Another day in paradise”.

: Her final Facebook post from Puerto Rico is a picture captioned: “Another day in paradise”. May 14 : The couple leave Varadero, Cuba.

: The couple leave Varadero, Cuba. May 15 : Bennett contacts the coastguard to report Isabella missing.

: Bennett contacts the coastguard to report Isabella missing. May 18 : Coastguard officially calls off search for her.

: Coastguard officially calls off search for her. May 19 : Bennett files a request for a “letter of presumed death”.

: Bennett files a request for a “letter of presumed death”. June 2017 : Investigators spend eight hours searching the couple’s home – and find coins that had been reported stolen.

: Investigators spend eight hours searching the couple’s home – and find coins that had been reported stolen. August 2017 : Bennett arrested in Florida on coin theft charges.

: Bennett arrested in Florida on coin theft charges. November 2017 : He admits theft charges in court.

: He admits theft charges in court. Tuesday Feb 20, 2018: Sentenced to seven months in jail – and hit with second-degree murder charge.

Friends said they often argued due to “cultural differences” — with Bennett balking at Colombian traditions such as piercing the baby’s ears and getting her an ID bracelet and a teething necklace.

Sarah Cortes, estate agent Isabella’s best pal, said: “They were always arguing about how they wanted to bring her up. He was very involved in what she needs to eat, what nappy she would wear.”

Controlling Bennett was also pushing hard to take the family to Australia — where he had moved to after growing up in Britain — but ­Isabella did not want to. Isabella’s family thought Bennett doted on her and Emilia, but increasingly frustrated after her disappearance, they began to suspect Bennett.

Two weeks after she disappeared, police had to be called when a relative screamed at him, claiming he had killed her. Responding in an emotional Facebook post last June he hit out at “negative and derisory comments”.

9 Bennett insisted that he and Isabella loved each other Credit: Facebook

Writing in the past tense about his wife, he added: “Isabella and I loved each other very much. She was the soulmate I had always searched for, she made my life complete.

“To think I must move forward without her in my life is something I never wanted to contemplate.”

He also revealed he had returned to Britain, saying: “Understandably, I have now returned to the UK with my daughter to seek the comfort of my friends and family.”

But police had been probing their own suspicions about Bennett.

9 FBI agents believe he killed her on the boat to drain her bank account and take the beachside flat she owned for himself Credit: Alexander Morris

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That month they spent eight hours searching the couple’s Delray Beach home — and found 162 gold coins stuffed inside boat shoes and a case.

It followed the recovery of the contents of his liferaft — which included nine tubes of silver, worth £3,000. Investigators had also noted the heavy rucksack Bennett had pulled to safety with him in the rescue.

The coins were part of a £77,000 gold and silver collection Bennett had reported stolen from a yacht he was a crewman on in May 2016.

On Tuesday Bennett was jailed for seven months for the coin smuggling — and was then hit with a second-degree murder charge.

Now Isabella’s relatives just hope they can one day see little Emelia, who is staying with Bennett’s mum Sheila, 78, and dad Tom, 80, in Hythe near Southampton. Neither wanted to comment last night.