KIDNAPPED BY A PROSPECT.
A relatively short-term but still very unpleasant captivity was the unexpected experience foisted on a young real estate agent in Britain, When Stephanie Slater went to meet with her prospective 'client' in an isolated house she soon discovered his interest was not in real estate at all. He was much more interested in her!

Mercifully, as the startling events quickly unfolded, Stephanie had no idea that the man into whose hands she had fallen was a killer. He had already murdered another young woman after a plan similar to the one he was now implementing had gone awry. In fact, there is good reason to believe he may have murdered two other young women.

Michael Sams had, in fact, tried a similar plan before but failed. He got a long way with his next victim - a young prostitute, Julie Dart - who was successfully abducted and locked up, but there was something Sams did not know about Julie that was to bring the kidnapping attempt to a tragic end.

Julie Dart was only 18 when she was abducted in midsummer 1991 by a man who called himself at the time Bob Southwell. Southwell demanded a large ransom for the return of the girl. But when Sams aka Southwell, got his hands on the attractive young woman he was interested in more than just demanding money, as Julie, and later Stephanie, was soon to discover. After all, such a captive was completely at his mercy - to do as he wished with her.

Julie disappeared on 9 July, 1991 while walking the streets late at night in the Chapeltown area of Birmingham and two days later a typewritten letter demanding a ransom of £140,000 was received by police. A second letter, addressed to Julie's boyfriend, also turned up. It was in her own handwriting.

But before any ransom could be paid Julie was already dead. It may or may not have been the abductor's original intention to murder the girl. Chiefly he was interested in the money, although he didn't mind having a bit of fun as well - the victim had evidently been kept naked, at least some of the time, and probably raped.

TERROR IN A BOX.
There was an unexpected hitch to the plan. In almost all respects the abductor had prepared well, having plotted for some years. Hidden away in a workshop was the necessary equipment. There the chief means of confinement was a purpose-built 'prison cell', somewhere a captive could be kept for as many days as were necessary. Julie was brought into the workshop gagged and blindfolded and tied to a chair but soon found herself locked inside a small timber box to be kept there for the night while Sams went to his own home. Sams was reasonably confident that escape was impossible as the workshop was locked and he had a system of warning signals installed. He had drawn Julie's attention to the warning devices.

But what Sams did not know was that Julie was claustrophobic and she panicked when left alone in the dark confined space. Her abductor had probably taken off the gag when he locked her away but left on the blindfold. He didn't want to be seen. But when her captor returned in the morning he found Julie had in her terror actually broken out of the box and was free - but still locked up. She was now deemed to be too much trouble and was murdered.

Julie's battered and strangled nude body was found ten days after her abduction - dumped in a field near the A1 at Lincolnshire. The abductor was not finished. He now sent letters threatening he would abduct more women if he did not receive money. Eventually he made good on his threats and made his next move. The victim this time was a real estate agent, Stephanie Slater, aged 25. Stephanie was to experience the horrors of being locked up in a confined space but in an even nastier form than Julie, and was kept captive for the next eight days. She was very lucky she survived.

Stephanie's ordeal began when on 22 January, 1992 - only about six months since Julie's death - Stephanie was sent by her firm to meet a Mr Bob Southwell, a prospective property buyer. He said he was 'looking for a £50,000 house in Great Barr, Birmingham' and Stephanie took him to see a two storey house she thought might suit him.

While they were looking at the upstairs bathroom the man produced a knife. After a struggle, during which the young woman was pushed into the bath and feared for her life, she agreed to having her hands tied. Perhaps he would rape her then go but there was more in store for Stephanie than rape, bad though that was. The kidnapper now took her downstairs, then gagged her and blindfolded her, before forcing her into a waiting car. After driving for half an hour the man stopped the vehicle and informed Stephanie that she was a kidnap victim but assured her she would not be harmed if she co-operated. The gag was removed and she was told to make a tape recording demanding a ransom of £175,000 from her employers, a firm called Shipways. The blindfold was left in place.

From the movie Beyond Fear - 'Stephanie' (Played by Gina McKee - who, incidentally, did a terrific job portraying the kidnap victim) being pulled from the box on the first morning:

After this the man drove for some hours, until they eventually arrived at an unknown location, where she was pushed stumbling into a building. Within a workshop the kidnapper had already set up his special 'prison cell'. Before being incarcerated for the night Stephanie's bonds and gag were released but she was ordered to keep the blindfold in place. Her abductor did not want to be recognized; wisely Julie did not try to see him. He warned her that he had a third box available for her body if he needed it! The kidnapper also took elaborate precautions to remove any possible forensic evidence from Julie's clothing. When she arrived at the building he made her take off her own clothing and don some other garments he provided. (Later, before releasing the Stephanie he gave her back her clothes, which had been washed.)

HELPLESS IN A PLASTIC PRISON.
Sams now forced Stephanie into the prison box. But he had learnt from his experience with Julie and had made some 'improvements' to ensure that escape was impossible, especially at times when he might be asleep or away. The recast prison comprised a small coffin-like plastic garbage receptacle (known variously as Sulo or Otto, wheelie bin, etc) within a larger timber structure. The plastic box had been lengthened so that someone could lie full-length within its confining interior.

An excellent movie has been made about Stephanie Slater's abduction (Beyond Fear - 1997 - highly recommended viewing), with some graphic and realistic scenes featuring Gina McKee as Stephanie, both chained in the plastic 'coffin' and in other situations. The only shortcoming of the movie is the fact that 'Stephanie' is seen in boots most of the time whereas in reality she was barefoot at least on some occasions. This is indicated in the fact (in the real situation) that on one occasion, when Stephanie complained about her bare feet being cold, her captor, showing a softer side, bathed and massaged them in front of a heater.

The gag being fitted, with cloth packing Stephanie's mouth first. Scenes from the movie Beyond Fear:

At the end of the first day as a captive Stephanie heard the man evidently going off and leaving her. The terrified woman, barely able to comprehend what was happening, found herself locked in a most uncomfortable manner inside her double prison. There she was left handcuffed, the manacles being attached to a bar over her head, so that they could slide back and forth, allowing a tiny bit of movement but at the expense of her arms being kept held above her body for the hours when she was locked away. She was not only blindfolded but gagged. And the plastic container was narrow and cramped. It took quite a bit of wriggling and repositioning for Stephanie to work her way down into the box. The first time she had great difficulty in fitting into the confining space but eventually became more adept at the task. With the handcuffs attached to the overhead bar it was impossible for Stephanie to escape from the box.

Each morning Stephanie was released and fed, glad to be able to stretch her cramped limbs, then allowed to use the toilet, after which tied up again and left lying bound on a mattress for the rest of the day. After being fed again in the evening she was allowed to use the toilet once more. This was in an open space in the workshop and, being blindfolded and chained, she had to be helped to use it by her captor, who stood and watched. She was also informed she could only go to the toilet twice in every 24 hours. She was then forced back into the box and manacled and locked up for the night. She was imprisoned for a full week before the ransom was paid out. Sometimes she was let out but chained with a heavy chain attaching her ankle to a bolt in the wall. During this time her kidnapper played cruel games with his captive, always kept blindfolded. He let her feel a bed of nails near the box, which he warned her would be used as punishment if she tried to escape.

GAMES SADISTS PLAY.
Perhaps the sadist came to the fore in another 'game'. On one occasion he had her sit on a chair and told her to remain there while he went out. He was only pretending; instead he sat watching her. He put some pieces of torn paper on her shoulders and told her he would know, when he came back, whether she had moved or not if the papers had been dislodged. The blindfolded Stephanie kept sitting, scared to move a muscle, for a lengthy period on that occasion.

More scenes from Beyond Fear With Gina Mckee:

Meanwhile the police had decided to arrange to pay the ransom in the hope of catching the kidnapper but, although about 1,000 police were involved in the operation, it was bungled and the man escaped. Faulty radio links played a part in the bungle and when police later came to view a video they had taken of the banknotes the quality was so poor that only a handful of numbers were legible.

After the abductor collected the money he released Stephanie, dropping her from his car near her own home. She had been held prisoner for eight days, during which time she had been raped, although she did not report this to police immediately after her release. Eventually the alleged kidnapper, whose real name was then revealed as Michael Sams, 50, a one-legged businessman, was tracked down through a BBC television crime-stoppers program.

During the court hearing and subsequent to the trial Sams' childhood and background were examined. He had grown up in a home where religion was an important factor, both parents being members of the Methodist Church. His stepfather was a soldier and he ran the home with a rule of fear, bringing his two sons up military-style. For the slightest infraction of the rules they were beaten. It also emerged that Sams had effectively had three fathers, with his mother remarrying. Eventually he married and had two children. However, he abused his wife and became a petty criminal. He was inspired by the crime of Donald Neilson, who had captured a 17-year-old girl, Lesley Whittle and kept her prisoner chained naked in an underground prison, where she eventually died.

Sams kept diary notes and computer files in which he recorded his activities, describing in detail sexual acts with the captives. He went to a lot of trouble, including setting up infrared detectors to record any movements should the prisoner manage to escape. He was eventually given four life sentences for these and other crimes.

In a book written later (titled, like the movie, 'Beyond Fear') Stephanie Slater revealed that she had developed a compulsive habit of bathing three or four times a day and of scrubbing herself until sometimes she bled. For his part her abductor, unrepentant, has been claiming from his prison cells that the couple shared a 'secret love' during her abduction. Yes, says, Stephanie, if 'love' means being raped while lying handcuffed, blindfolded and naked, not to mention petrified! It does seem, though, that Sams had become fond of Stephanie and that this saved her life.

 

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