One-legged Nottinghamshire murderer Michael Sams has been refused parole. Notorious Michael Sams, now 81, will stay behind bars and will not be moved to an open jail.
After a month-long high-profile trial, Sams was jailed with four life sentences to his name and has now become one of Britain's oldest prisoners. During the trial, the toolmaker insisted he was innocent of the kidnapping and murder of Julie Dart, aged 18. The teenager had vanished from the streets of Leeds.
A post-mortem examination of Julie’s body revealed that Sams had strangled her, crushing her windpipe with his bare hands.
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He did however confess to the abduction of 25-year-old Stephanie Slater, and the estate agent who he then held ransom for £175,000 in his Newark workshop. The jury didn’t believe his word, and Sams was given four life sentences for his crimes.
Ms Slater died of cancer in 2017.
He abducted Stephanie at knifepoint while posing as a house buyer in Birmingham and imprisoned her in a wheelie bin in the same workshop. Sams avoided capture, making off with the £175,000 ransom, but was later caught after his ex-wife saw an appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch.
Birmingham Live reports the Parole Board had looked at the case after his bid for freedom hearing last month. It examined a release plan provided by Sams' probation officer. But it ruled that at this stage "it was not robust enough to manage Mr Sams in the community."
The decision summary found: "The plan included a requirement to reside in designated accommodation for an extended period of time as well as strict limitations on Mr Sams' contacts, movements and activities.The panel concluded this plan was not robust enough to manage Mr Sams in the community at this stage."
It relation to transferring Sams, who had lost his right leg to cancer while serving a previous jail sentence, to an open prison, it said: "The panel also examined the option for Mr Sams to be managed in an open prison with lower levels of security and where at times he would be in the community during periods of temporary release. It concluded that he did not meet the criteria for such a transfer." Sams, from Sutton-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, was present during the parole hearing but he did not give evidence.
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