Channel 5 is set to air a new documentary special about the kidnapping of Stephanie Slater. The Girl in the Box, which begins on Tuesday, February 28, looks back at the horrendous crime that happened in 1992.
In the gritty two-parter, a compelling blend of dramatic reconstructions, archive footage and new interviews has been used to look back at the shocking case. The second episode will air on Wednesday, March 1.
But who exactly was Stephanie Slater? And what happened to her? Here’s everything that you need to know.
Read more: The death of a teenage girl in Cardiff that changed murder investigations across the world
Who was Stephanie Slater?
Born in 1966, Stephanie Slater was an estate agent from Great Barr in the West Midlands. She was a popular, outgoing person who was described as the life and soul of any social situation.
In January 1992, a seemingly normal work day turned into something terrifying and would shape the next 20 years of her life. Read on to hear what happened to her.
What happened to Stephanie Slater?
On January 22, 1992, a 25-year-old Stephanie attended a viewing with a potential buyer at a property in Birmingham. It was here that she was abducted by a man posing as the ‘buyer’, Michael Sams, who abducted her at knife point.
After abducting Stephanie, Sams then transported her to his workshop in Newark-upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire. It was here that she was handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded while being kept in a coffin-style box. The box was then locked in a wheelie-bin.
During this time, Sams would only occasionally let Stephanie out to give her food to keep her alive. During the limited time she spent out of the box, the 25-year-old attempted to build a rapport with her kidnapper in an effort to stay alive.
After evading police to collect the £175,000 ransom he’d demanded from her employers, Sams dropped Stephanie home and left her two streets from her house. She had been missing for eight days.
Following the shocking ordeal, Stephanie could barely walk or see due to the restraints that had been used to imprison her. After she gave evidence, Sams was later arrested and convicted of the kidnapping, as well as the murder of Leeds teenager Julie Darts a year earlier.
During a meeting with police, Sams admitted that the murder of the teenager was a "practice run" for the kidnap of Stephanie and that he had no intention of collecting the ransom. His sole aim was to murder her.
Stephanie, herself, would die in 2017 after a battle with cancer. She was 50 years old. Prior to her death, she worked with police forces to advise them on how to deal with kidnap survivors, and with the survivors themselves, to help them to recover from their ordeals.
Sams, who is now 80, is currently serving a life sentence in prison. The Girl in the Box: The Kidnapping of Stephanie Slater airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday, February 28. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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