British dad gets 8 years in jail for killing his wife at sea on their honeymoon

A British father was sentenced to eight years in jail for letting his wife drown at sea on their honeymoon.

Lewis Bennett, 42, was sentenced on Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter for the death of his bride, Isabella Hellman, off the coast of the Bahamas in May 2017.

The couple had been married for three months and had recently become parents of a baby daughter. They had been sailing from Cuba to their home in Delray Beach, Florida when their boat capsized.

Bennett, who has dual British and Australian citizenship, said he left Hellman on the deck and went to sleep in the boat’s cabin. He told authorities he woke up when the boat hit something and said his wife was gone.

He did not report his wife missing until he fled the sinking boat on a life raft with a tea set, a jar of peanut butter, and thousands of dollars of stolen coins.

It was discovered by rescuers that Bennett had been smuggling rare coins worth over $40,000 in a backpack, which he had stolen from another sailor in St Maarten a year prior.

Bennett was sentenced to seven months in prison in February for smuggling the coins – which he had been serving before his sentencing for manslaughter, Local 10 reported.

The US Coast Guard rescued Bennett from the waters between Cuba and the Bahamas, but his wife was never found.

Prosecutors showed photos in court of Bennett’s sunken boat, showing escape hatches left open and damage to both hulls from the inside, which authorities said revealed that Bennett sank the boat on purpose.

FBI Special Agent James Kelly said that Bennett made no effort to find his wife and did not use any flare on the life raft to help authorities search for her.

Kelly said: ‘In fact, Bennett stated that once on board the life raft, he cut the line that tethered the life raft to the vessel. Bennett explained that he did this because he was afraid of being pulled under water if the vessel were to sink.’

Bennett was originally set to be sentenced in January, but Federal District Judge Federico Moreno delayed sentencing to allow for lawyers set up an inheritance for the couple’s two-year-old daughter, Emelia, who will receive Hellman’s estate.

Emelia is now being raised by Bennett’s parents in Scotland.