A sailor who was rescued from his sinking catamaran is set to be jailed today after admitting to his wife’s manslaughter.
Lewis Bennett, 42, was initially accused of murdering Isabella Hellmann, 41, and deliberately sinking the yacht off the coast of Cuba – but has since pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge.
Bennett, faces up to eight years in prison when he is sentenced in a Miami court on Tuesday.
The newlyweds, who had recently welcomed a baby daughter, had been sailing from Cuba to their home in Delray Beach, Florida, when Bennett sent an SOS signal on May 15, 2017.
The experienced sailor with dual British-Australian citizenship claimed he woke up to find his wife missing from the 34ft vessel, Surf Into Summer.
However, Bennett didn’t report her absence until 45 minutes after he fled in a life raft with Cuban trinkets, a tea set and a jar of peanut butter.
He was rescued from sea but, despite an extensive search, Isabella’s body was never found and she was declared dead by a judge earlier this month.
Prosecutors had alleged he murdered her and deliberately sunk the catamaran to end his ‘marital strife’ and inherit her Delray Beach home and wealth.
They reduced the charge to one of unlawful killing without malice and Bennett pleaded guilty in November 2018.
The pair had only been married for three months at the time. In a strange twist, Bennett was found to be smuggling rare coins worth nearly £30,000 during his rescue which prosecutors cited as another potential reason he may have wanted her dead.
He had reported the gold and silver collectables stolen from a former employer in St Maarten a year earlier.
Bennett is currently serving a seven-month jail stretch after admitting transporting the loot.
