A former detective became emotional as he praised the late Stephanie Slater’s ‘absolutely courageous and amazing’ observation skills, crediting her witness accounts to capturing Britain’s once most-wanted man Michael Sams. DailyMail reports.
John Plimmer, who was the Head of Intelligence at West Midlands Police, was deeply moved as he recounted the kidnapping victim’s impressive awareness of her surroundings, despite being blindfolded for her horrifying eight-day ordeal.
The former investigator sang her praises on the second episode of Channel 5’s documentary, The Girl in the Box: The Kidnapping of Stephanie Slater, which aired on Channel 5 & My5.
‘Stephanie Slater, I think, in my 30 years of policing was the most reliable knowledgeable and intelligent witness I ever dealt with, without doubt,’ he told the programme.
‘She wasn’t a police officer. She wasn’t a professional investigator. But she certainly retained information as if she was.
‘What she went through, that girl, was purgatory,’ he stressed. ‘And how she responded was amazing. Absolutely amazing and amazing. She got him caught and captured.’
Hostage negotiator Ellie Baker – a DI who had spent days with Stephanie’s parents while she was missing – also stressed that it was Stephanie’s cool-headed approach which kept her alive.
She told the documentary: ‘She did as she was told and she didn’t try and fight and she didn’t try and argue with him… I actually think that’s what saved Stephanie’s life, that she was actually compliant.’
According to DailyMail, the saddist murderer abducted Stephanie Slater at knifepoint while posing as a house buyer in Birmingham and imprisoning her in a wheelie bin in the same workshop.
Although her disappearance prompted a huge manhunt, Sams evaded police and escaped with a £175,000 ransom – although incredibly, he kept his promise and returned Stephanie to her loved ones after receiving the money.
Stephanie later revealed in a memoir that she had been raped during her ordeal, in which Sams had held her hostage in a locked wheelie bin for several days.
However, the police was left frustrated that they had not managed to catch Sams, despite a carefully orchestrated operation in which they had arranged for the ransom to be paid by Stephanie’s boss.
The plan was to intercept the handover and arrest Sams, but poor weather conditions meant they lost him.
He was later caught following a BBC Crimewatch appeal, when Sams’s ex-wife Susan Oake recognised the clues provided and linked Stephanie’s case to her former husband.
Sams was convicted in July 1993 and sentenced to life in prison.
He is now 80 years old, making him one of the UK’s oldest prisoners, and is said to be applying for parole next month.
Stephanie subsequently worked with police to help improve the treatment of kidnap victims, but died of cancer in 2017, aged just 50.
In the aired interview, John concluded it was Stephanie’s razor sharp wit – which saw her not only listen out for the radio station her abductor listened to, but also recount what his roof looked like, as well as pin down his location near a railway – that put Sams behind bars.
The information she provided was crucial in helping the team configure the ‘golden triangle’ area in which they could roughly pin down Sams’ location.
