Michael Sams kidnap victim, Stephanie Slater, dies aged 50

Stephanie Slater, the estate agent kidnapped by Michael Sams and held captive in Newark, has died from cancer at the age of 50.

Sams, now 76, of Sutton-on-Trent, was jailed for life in 1993 for kidnapping Miss Slater and the kidnap and murder of Leeds teenager Julie Dart.

Miss Slater, from Birmingham, had been held in a coffin-like box inside a wheelie-bin for eight days in Sams’ workshop in Swan and Salmon Yard. She was released after her employer paid a £175,000 ransom.

Sams kidnapped her after posing as a house-buyer in Birmingham.

He had denied the murder and kidnap of Julie Dart, but admitted kidnapping Miss Slater.

In handing four life sentences to Sams, Mr Justice Igor Judge, sitting at Nottingham Crown Court, said Miss Slater had been in mortal danger.

“The ordeal inflicted on her is something is something the rest of us can only imagine,” he said.

It is reported that Miss Slater died at her home on the Isle of Wight just days after being diagnosed with cancer.