Fresh footage has been released in the search for a missing British woman who vanished from a luxury Caribbean yacht four years ago.

Sarm Heslop, a 41-year-old former air hostess, vanished in 2021 whilst holidaying with her wealthy American boyfriend at a restaurant on the Isle of St John in the Caribbean.

The footage shows the couple holding hands while they walk down a wooden dock by the water's edge.

The pair can then be seen boarding a dinghy and motoring away, understood to be headed for their luxury yacht, anchored in the next bay approximately 10 minutes away.

Miss Heslop was reported missing six hours after the footage captured her.

The CCTV footage, released by the local police, is the last time the Briton was seen.

Her body has never been recovered, despite a large-scale search operation which has now gone stale, according to authorities.

Ryan Bane, 49, and her boyfriend at the time, maintains she likely fell overboard or drowned while swimming, while he was sleeping.

The footage shows the couple holding hands while they walk down a wooden dock by the water's edge

He has never been formally questioned by the police.

Miss Heslop met the American seven months into her trip, travelling in St Lucia, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique.

She disappeared on March 7, 2021, leaving behind her passport, phone and money.

Asked why he is making the footage public now, USVI chief of police Steven Philip said: "We're at a dead end. If anyone could look at this video and see something and say something, it can help. That's why now. We're at a dead-end road and we need help."

The pair can then be seen boarding a dinghy and motoring away, understood to be headed for their luxury yacht, anchored in the next bay

In reports released by the US Coast Guard, Mr Bane said that he and Miss Sarm had returned to the yacht at 10pm.

However, the timestamp, which the police have confirmed to be correct, shows them leaving the dock at 8.45pm, meaning the pair would have arrived back at the yacht around an hour before claimed.

US Virgin Islands’ Police Commissioner, Mario Brooks, told the BBC: "The timeline is suspicious, and that's one of the reasons why we need to talk to Ryan."

He says Bane remains the only person of interest in the case, adding: "There was… nothing of evidentiary value that points to Sarm having contact with anyone that night, outside of Ryan".

Sarm Heslop was reported missing six hours after the footage captured her

Mr Bane was advised to contact the US Coast Guard, but did not for nine hours.

He was later accused of obstructing Coast Guard agents who tried to board his boat by blocking a door and has refused requests to cooperate with the authorities.

Under US law he can stay silent and officers must show "probable cause" to get a search warrant.

The missing woman's mum, Brenda, was initially in contact with him before she claims he blocked her phone.

Ryan Bane has never been formally questioned by the police

His lawyer, David Cattie, told the BBC: "Ryan assumed Sarm perhaps hit her head and fell overboard, or had gone swimming, gotten up and gone swimming, became disoriented, lost her way at sea, and she likely passed by drowning that evening."

He described the new claims about the timeline as "irresponsible" and added that it reflected nothing other than a possible error in estimating the time while under the stress of trying to locate his missing girlfriend.

Mr Cattie added: "One thing you learn with being a lawyer is that there's tonnes of people who had nothing to hide, who had done nothing wrong, that you would say just want to do all this co-operation, that wind up in jail for something they didn't do.

"Ryan calls me and says 'the coastguard's coming out here and they've got a bunch of police officers on the boat. At this point my radar's going off because the coastguard's started bringing out the police without permission, without a warrant, I don't think that they're looking for Sarm anymore, I think they're looking for someone to blame. So I did what was necessary to protect Ryan, which is tell him to exercise his fourth and fifth amendment rights at that time."