Plot hole: Sergeant Howie is expected to report back to the mainland on the same day he left, and since he took a valuable aircraft with him on his trip it is inconceivable that his superior officers would not come looking for him if he didn't show up. First they would try contacting him on his radio and not receiving a reply they'd send out a search party, and they would do so within twenty four hours. Missing police officers are taken very, very seriously indeed.

The Wicker Man (1973)
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Directed by: Robin Hardy
Starring: Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Edward Woodward
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Sergeant Howie: What religion can they possibly be learning jumping over bonfires?
Lord Summerisle: Parthenogenesis.
Sergeant Howie: What?
Lord Summerisle: Literally, as Miss Rose would doubtless say in her assiduous way, reproduction without sexual union.
Sergeant Howie: Oh, what is all this? I mean, you've got fake biology, fake religion... Sir, have these children never heard of Jesus?
Lord Summerisle: Himself the son of a virgin, impregnated, I believe, by a ghost.
Question: If they needed a virgin for the ritual why does Britt try to seduce him? She could have spoiled everything.
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Answer: He was a devout man of faith. They had to test his virtue, to tempt him to break the ten commandments or the seven deadly sins.