The tragic death of 18-year-old Julie Dart in the early 1990s shocked the entire country.
Michael Sams was the offender who committed the horrifying crime.
Who was Julie Dart?
When Julie Dart was tragically abducted and killed, she was only 18 years old.
The first victim was a teenage girl from Leeds, and the second was Stephanie Slater.
How she was killed?
Julie was taken off the streets of Leeds’ Chapeltown red light district by Michael Sams on July 9, 1991.
The 18-year-old was then driven to his workshop in Newark, Nottinghamshire, by him. Sams abducted the teen and then ruthlessly demanded £140,000 from Julie’s mother.
When the police agreed to hand over the large sum of money, he gave them the runaround instead, hanging up the phone before they could learn the precise location of the last drop-off.
Julie Dart had actually already been dead by this point; her killer had no intention of releasing her.
“When I went out to kidnap Julie Dart, there was only one intention, and that was to kill her,” he admitted in his taped confession from Full Sutton Prison in East Yorkshire.
“There was no intention whatsoever to keep her alive.”
Sams had pulled up next to the teen the night of Julie’s kidnapping, and when she told him it was “her first night” out working the streets, he made the most of it.
Ten days after going missing, the body parts of Julie, who had been wrapped in a sheet, were found on a farm in the Lincolnshire town of Grantham.
On January 22, 1992, six months later, Sams struck once more, this time going after estate agent Stephanie Slater.
She was about to show a dangerous killer, posing as a potential buyer, around a property without the 25-year-knowledge. old’s
Sams held his second victim at knifepoint when the pair arrived at the viewing in Birmingham.
He also took her to his workshop, just like he did with Julie.
It was there that Stephanie underwent a terrifying experience that would leave her scarred for the ensuing 20 years.
She was kept in a coffin-like box that was locked in a wheelie bin while being handcuffed, gagged, and blindfolded.
Every now and then, her captor would let her go free and give her food.
Stephanie realised she had to take action to try to stay outside of her box-like prison once she was allowed to leave.
In an effort to prevent her kidnapper from seeing her as a disposable object that he could simply kill and discard, the 25-year-old tried to establish a rapport with him.
Sams demanded a ransom from her employers once more, this time for £175,000 in total.
Her captor dropped her off two streets from her home after eluding police to get the money.
She was missing since eight days prior.
Her testimony aided in Sams’ capture and conviction for both the kidnapping and the murder of Julie Dart.
Where is Michael Sams now?
Michael Sams, a convicted murderer and kidnapper who is now in his 80s, is still in prison.
Sams admitted to the kidnapping during his trial but denied killing Julie; nonetheless, a jury at Nottingham Crown Court found him guilty.
In 1933, after being found guilty of his crimes, he was given a life sentence in prison for the murder of Julie Dart and the kidnapping of Stephanie Slater.
According to reports, he will submit a third parole application in March 2023 after serving 30 years in prison.
