Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2011/January 2012 | Page 44

INTERVIEW
Inside of the workshop after
Stephanie was released by Sams

Celia filming in India with DameThe
Judiworkshop
Dench where Stephanie was held
and (inset) her kidnapper Michael Sams

instead of
being given
urgent medical
treatment
and counselling, she was ordered by a
doctor to take two sedatives, and then
she and her parents were thrust in
front of more than 200 journalists and
photographers from all over the world.
She still has a video of the conference,
where she is seen to utter ‘I can’t
believe it’.
“I was expecting maybe
a local reporter, but was
not prepared for what
happened. And the
previous night when I
got home, a police officer
would not even let me hug
my parents because I was a
‘crime scene’,” she recalls.
Following a tip-off,
police began searching
for a red Metro car, spotted on the
night Sams returned her. Stephanie
alleged: “The police parked a similar
car outside the house where I was
abducted and informed me that they
wanted to blindfold me, lie me down
in the car and drive me away from the
house in order to re-enact the kidnap.
“They would drive me the route
they thought I would have been taken
by the kidnapper and wanted me to
confirm this by any changes I may
have noticed in any road surfaces. In
short, they were taking me through the

whole kidnap once again. I had no
choice but to do it, but I refused to be
blindfolded.”
Those were among the reasons
Stephanie agreed to give motivational
talks to police about how victims of
crime should be treated. She said:
“I was determined this should never
happen to anyone again so I started
giving talks around the country to
different police forces. Most police
officers were shocked by the way I had

I thought of the Island I thought
of safety, comfort and happiness. I
couldn’t get that out of my head, and
I felt I needed to move. So I just made
the decision, and a close friend agreed
to come with me.
“When I moved I only wanted to
live in Ventnor so I couldn’t see the
mainland. Whenever I looked over at
the mainland I hated it. Everything
bad was there, and being in Ventnor
there was nothing there to remind me.
“We lived in a flat for
a couple of years, but by
then I was getting better
so we moved to a house
in Ryde knowing I could
look over at Portsmouth
and it didn’t bother me. I
did a lot of healing on the
Island, but it wasn’t easy.
There were times when I
drove my car up to Culver
and just sat there thinking ‘who would
miss me?’ I have never revealed that
before.
“I went through terrible depression,
and after moving here I spent about
six years as a recluse. It wasn’t until
after my mum died suddenly, and the
police got in touch with me to do talks
that I began to come out of my shell
a bit more. Sams took eight days of
my life and I’ll be damned that he was
having any more. I do like going out
socialising, having a few dates; meals
with friends, and I cannot be that

‘The previous night when I got
home, a police officer would
not even let me hug my parents
because I was a crime scene.’

44

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been treated. They said there was no
way this could happen now.”
She continued: “I tried to put the
pieces back together, and even went
back to work for two days, but I
realised the pieces were not there
anymore. I needed to go somewhere
to start fresh, because everywhere I
looked there were reminders of what
happened.
“The only place I loved, and had
visited regularly from a baby to my
teenage years was the Isle of Wight.
I had fond memories, and every time