A 25-year-old woman called Stephanie Slater has been kidnapped. Police are waiting for her captor to make contact. The Girl in The Box: The Kidnapping of Stephanie Slater I, Channel 5 2025
This was a man who had killed before. ibid.
‘Whatever the outcome I’ll always love you. Look after the cat for me.’ ibid. Stephanie’s taped message
‘An anxious man is becoming a dangerous man.’ ibid. rozzer
In July 1991, 6 months before Stephanie’s kidnap, an 18-year-old Leeds woman called Julie Dart had gone missing. ibid.
The ransom run starting in a call box at Birmingham New Street went ahead, but the operation was a failure. ibid.
In the days that followed Julie’s murder, police in Leeds scanned for clues in the letters from the killer and the victim. ibid.
‘He wants to be considered as a compassionate psychopath.’ ibid. rozzer
His escape now meant that Stephanie’s life hung in the balance. The Girl in The Box: The Kidnapping of Stephanie Slater II,
‘Oh my God, Stephanie has just stepped through the front door.’ ibid. rozzer
The one person who knew more about the kidnapper than anyone else was about to face the press. ibid.
A joint task force was set up to investigate both cases. ibid.
By the time Crimewatch had ended that night, over 13,000 calls had been received. ibid.
‘Yes, I’ve been expecting you.’ ibid. Sams to rozzer
In 2007, 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal. Madaleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence, Channel 4 2024
There remains one prime suspect: convicted paedophile Christian Bruckner. Currently in prison for rape, he is due to be released this year. ibid.
Police had first started investigating him in 2017 after a witness identified him. ibid.
Police were called to an address in East Germany, an abandoned box factory owned by a man living on the fringes of society, Christian Bruckner. ibid.
A wallet containing 6 USB sticks and 2 memory cards … They found 75 toddlers’ swimsuits. There were preschooler bikes and toys as well as three working guns with ammunition … ibid.
2 years before Madeleine McCann disappeared, Bruckner broke into the home of a 72-year-old American woman in the same resort. ibid.
On the night Madeleine disappeared, a call was made to Bruckner’s mobile phone at around 7:30 p.m. That data places his phone in the area on the evening she vanished. ibid.
But is there more evidence to come? ibid.