Grave - Julie Dart (1st March 1973 to 9th July 1991)

 

One of the most evil living convicts is Michael Sams who will die behind bars. In 1991 he kidnapped Julie Dart and murdered her when she tried to escape. The next year he kidnapped Stephanie Slater and released her after a ransom was paid. Here I am at the grave of the first one who was just 18 years old.

 

On 9th July 1991 Sams drove to a local red light of Leeds and picked up Julie Dart who working as a prostitute. He overpowered her, blindfolded her and drove her to his warehouse in Newark (he ran a business selling power tools.) The kidnapping was planned for awaiting her was coffin-like box which he’d chained to the floor and fitted with an alarm. At some point Julie was left alone and freed herself from the box but couldn’t get out of the room within the warehouse. Her nightmare deepened when Sams returned to the warehouse and found her. He chained her to a roof beam. The next day her forced Julie to write a letter to her boyfriend demanding a £140,000 ransom. Other notes were written but Sams murdered Julie with a hammer. He dumped her in a wheelie bin and continued to make demands for money. When the smell of composition got too strong he drove Julie to the countryside in Easton in Lincolnshire and dumped her.

 

A few months later he set up an appointment with estate agent Stephanie Slater to view a property. He attacked her and forced her into a box at his warehouse. She was tied up, handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged (and raped on the first night.) Her employer paid the ransom of £175,000 and a few hours later - still drugged and traumatised - Stephanie she gave a press conference. The case was presented on the popular television programme Crimewatch and Sam’s first wife recognised the voice. Police arrested him,  gathered overwhelming forensic evidence against him and the case was sent to trial. He admitted to the kidnapping but denied any involvement with Julie Dart. The jury didn’t believe him and he was sentenced to life imprisonment (also for four attempts to blackmail the police and British Rail.) Days later in prison he confessed to Julie’s murder.

 

Sams is now in his eighties and has had a leg amputated due to cancer. He attacked a female probation officer with a metal spike and had eight years added to his term. He keep trying to get parole (last one was in April 2023) but they’ve been denied.

 

The second victim Stephanie Slater moved to the Isle of Wight and worked with police forces advising them on how to deal with kidnap survivors. Sadly she died of cancer aged 50. Police never found the £25,000 missing part of the ransom.

 

Here I am at Julie’s grave in Leeds. I was returning home from a few days at the coast and veered off the motorway to find the grave (thank you to Dave, a fellow grave-hunter.) Eighteen - just a kid. I did a salute and left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the recovered ransom money...

Piles of notes and container pictured.Some of the ransom money recovered by police investigating the kidnap of Stephanie Slater