Husband Accused of Scuttling Yacht Admits Killing Wife at Sea On Honeymoon

A British man who had only been married for three months has admitted killing his wife after initially claiming that she had disappeared at sea.

Lewis Bennett, an experienced sailor from Poole, Dorset, had been sailing a 37-foot catamaran from Cuba to Delray Beach, Florida in May 2017 with Isabella Hellmann, 41 who was a real estate agent from South Florida.

They were having a belated honeymoon and had left their daughter, Emelia, with family. They began their journey in St. Martin in April 2017, before sailing on to Puerto Rico and Cuba.

According to court documents, Bennett said he was awoken in his cabin on May 15, 2017 by a loud noise. Going outside he found the sails and rigging were loose, the helm of the vessel was unmanned, and his wife had disappeared.

The court heard Bennett did not search for his wife with either the catamaran or its attached dinghy, nor did he immediately a raise the alarm. He later abandoned the vessel and boarded the life raft, the Press Association reported.

He then reported his wife missing in an SOS call, claiming that the vessel was sinking and he could not find his wife. She has never been found. Bennett is currently serving a seven-month sentence for more than $100,000 worth of coins stolen from a yacht he worked on in 2016, which he was discovered with on the life raft by rescuers.

Authorities suspected he had killed his wife, with prosecutors alleging that he wanted to inherit her apartment in Florida, and her bank account funds. The FBI accused Bennett of deliberately scuttling the vessel, as an investigation discovered portholes beneath the waterline had been opened and there was internal damage to the twin hulls.

In September, Prosecutor Benjamin Greenberg told the hearing in Miami, Florida, that there was "strong circumstantial proof" of a motive for murder.

"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," Greenberg said, according to BBC.

Bennett, who has dual British and Australian citizenship, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful killing without malice after striking a plea deal which carries a maximum jail term of eight years. He will be sentenced in January 2019.

Federal prosecutor Ariana Fajardo Orshan said in a statement: "Although nothing can ever erase the pain and suffering caused by Lewis Bennett's criminal acts, the U.S. attorney's office and our law enforcement partners hope that the defendant's admission of guilt is a step toward justice for the victim," The Guardian reported.