'I was about to ask 7/7 bomber five-word question before it all changed'
7/7 survivor Dan Biddle recalls terrifying attack
Project Manager Dan Biddle had almost decided to call in sick on the morning of July 7, 2005, but decided to drag himself in to work. To make matters worse, he had missed his stop.
The train had just left Edgware Road Underground station and he was standing up, trying to hold on with one hand while attempting to type a text message to colleagues using the clumsy interface of an early 2000s Nokia.
'Big man, big hands, small phone, complete carnage,' he recalled.
Dan was also wondering why a sullen-looking man in the same Tube carriage was staring at him. Speaking on Netflix 's Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, Dan recalled that he was on the brink of asking the stranger 'Is there a problem, mate?', when there was a blinding flash of light.
'It was like opening the gates of hell,' Dan said. The stranger, Mohammad Sidique Khan, had detonated a powerful explosive device – unleashing devastating destructive force within the narrow confines of the tube train.
Dan very quickly realised he was badly injured, and recalls thinking: 'I'm not frightened of death, but dying alone terrifies me.'
Bombarded with shrapnel from the blast, Dan had lost both legs, an eye, and his spleen. A 20p piece is still lodged in his thigh bone, and other fragments of metal, including his door keys, were removed by surgeons.
He almost certainly would have died in the minutes after the blast, had it not been for fellow-passenger Adrian Heili. The burly South African was a former military medic and gave Dan vital, but painful first aid.
'He said, 'I am not going to lie to you but this is really going to f***ing hurt.' One thing Adrian isn't is a liar,' Dan said.
Appearing on This Morning, Dan recalled how that split second changed his life forever: 'I was just a normal 26-year-old young man. I worked in the construction industry. I was very sporty, very active.
'Just like anybody of that sort of age, I enjoyed socialising with my friends and I played a lot of sport.
"I had a job that I loved and I was really breaking through into the construction industry. So in my mind, the life that I was looking forward to leading was mapped out in front of me. But then everything changed.'
He added that he had 'locked eyes' with the bomber moments before the blast: 'It was really strange, because I could... I was standing up and he was sat next to me. So we were probably no more than about six inches apart.'
It's not unusual for someone to look at a stranger who's near them on a tube train, Dan said, but the other man's staring had gone on for so long that it was starting to feel 'uncomfortable.'
Just as Dan was about to ask Khan whether there was some sort of problem, he saw another man put a hand inside his backpack. Within a fraction of a second, Dan felt scorching heat, as well as seeing the blinding white flash of the explosion. The force of the blast was powerful enough to blow him through the train's doors and into the tunnel.
'At first, I thought there'd been either a train collision or an electrical explosion because of the white flash,' Dan said. He added that for a moment, he didn't realise how badly hurt he was, but then, as he lifted his arms, he saw his hands were on fire and the full horror of the situation began to dawn on him.
'Then I made the mistake of trying to look around. And that's when I saw the first dead body and it was just absolute hell on earth after that.'
The four co-ordinated 7/7 attacks killed 52 and injured over 770. Seven people, including Khan himself, died in the explosion on that Circle Line train alone.
Adrian Heili had served with the Austrian army in the Kosovo conflict, and had experience in dealing with battlefield injuries. He reacted immediately after the explosion, telling fellow-passengers to lie down and cover their mouths to prevent damage to their lungs from smoke inhalation.
He told an inquest how he started moving though the train, looking for casualties. As he made his way towards Dan, who was screaming out in agony at that point, he caught sight of another man who was clearly dead: "It's the hardest decision I've had to make, where ... you have to distinguish who you can save and who you can't save," he told the coroner.
After passing numerous bodies and "fragments of bodies" he finally found Dan. Adrian recalled: "I noticed that [he] was missing a leg, there was also blood coming out of his femoral artery, which I closed with my thumb and forefinger". Using his belt and a piece of fabric torn from his shirt, Adrian improvised tourniquets to lessen Dan's bleeding.
Adrian stayed with Dan, keeping him talking about sport to prevent him from slipping into unconsciousness. After paramedics arrived and carried Dan to safety, Adrian continued to help with the rescue effort. He was the last person to leave the train.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Anna Sorokin ‘horrified' after rabbits used for photoshoot dumped in New York park
After years of prison and conniving her way into luxury, Anna Sorokin has New York talking about her again. This time, it is not posing as a German heiress or being jailed for four years, instead the convicted fraudster has been left 'disturbed' and 'horrified' after three rabbits used in her photoshoot were found dumped in a nearby park. Sorokin, who also went by the name Anna Delvey and is the subject of Netflix's Inventing Anna, shot to infamy after a high-profile court case. The fraudster, who masqueraded as an heiress, swindled the wealthy in Manhattan with an invented trust fund. But this latest saga involves a photograph on her Instagram account, in which she is pictured outside a Tribeca subway station with a black ankle monitor – stipulated under the terms of her 2022 prison release – and holding two leashed rabbits. This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Days after posing for the photographs, social media users were quick to link the abandoned bunnies with Sorokin after the animals were spotted in Prospect Park. 'I felt ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with it,' Sorokin said of the affair. The 34-year-old said she was not responsible for the rabbits and was 'horrified' to learn they had been dumped. The first bunny, a one-and-a-half-year-old Harlequin lop, was found in the bushes by Terry Chao, near a cardboard box used as part of Sorokin's photoshoot last week. On Thursday, another bunny was found near the same cardboard box, followed by a third on Sunday, near a black carrier bag, she told the New York Times. The man who photographed Sorokin, Jasper Egan Soloff, told the newspaper through a lawyer that it was not his shoot and claimed to have no knowledge of how the bunnies were obtained or handled. But another person involved in the shoot appears to have apologised and taken responsibility in a since-deleted Instagram post. 'When I realised the rabbits were being surrendered to me I panicked. At 19, with no experience caring for animals, no pet-friendly housing, and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice,' he reportedly wrote. 'Believing, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option.' He added that they were being fostered by someone in New York, while Sorokin said she offered to help rehome the rabbits when she learned they had been abandoned. People on social media have accused Sorokin of animal cruelty. Many commenters decried her use of the animals as props, and warned against photographing bunnies on leashes on their backs, a position known as trancing that can be harmful to the animals. 'I do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals. I would never condone these actions,' Sorokin told the website Page Six. After being convicted in 2019 on multiple counts of larceny and theft, she was released after nearly four years in jail and a further 18 months in immigration detention for overstaying her visa, and was told to refrain from posting on social media.
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
My stalker was inspired by Netflix show to kidnap & chain me to wall in torture chamber… I struck dark deal to survive
When twisted Christopher Thomas was finally caught he took extreme action to conceal evidence CHILLING PLOT My stalker was inspired by Netflix show to kidnap & chain me to wall in torture chamber… I struck dark deal to survive Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WAKING to a creaking floorboard in her bedroom, Samantha Stites was about to reach for a small axe hidden under her bed when she was suddenly attacked. Intruder Christopher Thomas gagged her, tied her up and bundled her into a car before driving her to a bunker in a storage unit - where he kept her chained to a wall. 14 Samantha Stites bravely shares her ordeal in a new documentary Credit: Supplied 14 Christopher Thomas spent 11 years stalking Samantha Credit: Supplied 14 Samantha with Thomas at college, where they first met as students Credit: Netflix But this horrific kidnap, in October 2022, was no random attack. Thomas had been stalking Samantha for over a decade, after becoming obsessed with her when they first met at Grand Valley State University in Michigan in 2011. And his terrifying plot to kidnap, rape and murder her was inspired by watching hit Netflix show You, which saw its deranged main character Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, torture women in a glass box hidden in the basement of his New York bookshop. Recalling the horrifying moment Thomas forced her into a custom-built soundproof bunker in a rental storage unit, Samantha said: 'He takes off my bandana, I'm in this torture chamber. 'Holy s***, this is like a horror film. Is he going to rape me and kill me in this room? I can't fight my way out.' Samantha had to summon every ounce of strength to survive and escape. Fighting for her life, she was eventually forced to strike a dark deal - to have sex with her sick captor in return for her freedom. In a gripping three-part Disney+ documentary Samantha bravely shares her story for the first time, recounting years of fear and astonishing resilience. Featuring never-before-seen police interview footage, CCTV surveillance from the storage unit and disturbing images and videos recovered from Thomas' phone, Stalking Samantha also includes powerful testimony from her friends and the investigators who helped bring her attacker to justice. Thomas's dark obsession took hold the moment he laid eyes on her, 11 years before the attack. Obsessed stalker faked pregnancy, swerved car into ex & bombarded him with messages in relentless campaign of harassment 14 Samantha recalls the terrifying moment she was bundled into the bunker Credit: Netflix 14 Penn Badgley plays deranged stalker and murderer Joe Goldberg in You - the show that inspired Thomas Credit: CLIFTON PRESCOD/NETFLIX After their first meeting Samantha turned down repeated requests for dates, but he refused to take no for an answer and became increasingly persistent. Several years older than her and socially awkward, Thomas bombarded Samantha with lengthy emotionally charged messages, insisting: 'I want you to be part of my life.' He nicknamed her Jellybean and quoted passages from the Bible, suggesting their relationship was God's plan. She said: 'Every time I saw him I was more and more scared.' Her former roommate Charissa Hayden explained: 'He was a nobody, a sad, lonely guy. She felt sorry for him and was nice to him. He took that and ran away with it.' Samantha's childhood friend Patrick Bruening added: 'He showed up with flowers at her work and I thought that was a huge red flag. "He thought he was her knight in shining armour. Not at all - he was creepy.' Every time I saw him I was more and more scared Samantha Stites Although pathetic Thomas continued to harass Samantha, she ignored him for months until she finally snapped one day when he approached her at a bus stop. 'On the inside I was flaming mad, the angriest I've been because I thought we were past all this,' she recalled. She told Thomas: 'I've told you I don't want to see you, I don't want to speak to you, I don't want flowers, just leave me alone. 'I've told you multiple times, I've blocked you. I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you." She adds: 'I think he was surprised that I wasn't flattered. But he knows very clearly what my wishes are and doesn't care.' Another friend, Robin Trierweiler, said: 'All I wanted to do was shake her and say please take care of yourself. 'It seems like she's in danger and it's frustrating to watch her downplay that. It's not a normal situation, it's a hazard.' Drastic action 14 Samantha, right, was a happy-go-lucky teenager before she met Thomas Credit: Netflix 14 Thomas caught on camera outside Samantha's home Credit: Netflix After graduating from college, Samantha returned to her home town of Elk Rapids, a small close knit community, where she thought the ordeal was behind her. But soon Thomas turned up there too, and even applied for the same internship she was starting. 'I just feared that I would never be free of him,' she said. 'I felt scared and threatened.' When he was spotted coming out of her apartment in 2016, Samantha took drastic action and applied for a personal protection order - banning him from all contact. Judge Norman Hayes, who granted the order for six years, recalled: 'I was really concerned. I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this. 'He was obsessed, absolutely obsessed with her. He's going to do something very severe - either rape, kill her or kidnap her. I was really concerned. I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this... He's going to do something very severe - either rape, kill her or kidnap her Judge Norman Hayes 'At the time it was the longest personal protection order I had ever granted.' With Thomas legally banned from making contact, Samantha's life gradually returned to normal. She trained as a social worker and bought a house, but in September 2022 - as soon as the restraining order expired - she spotted Thomas lurking as she played football. 'I stopped dead in my tracks,' said Samantha. 'I worry that he's coming after me in a vengeful way wanting to hurt me for denying him all those years ago.' Thomas also joined Samantha's gym and football league, but technically he had not done anything wrong and her request for another personal protection order was denied. Gagged and bound 14 The storage unit where he intended to keep his victim for two weeks Credit: Netflix 14 The bunker inside the storage unit where Samantha was held Credit: Netflix 14 Cuffs found by police while gathering evidence against Thomas Credit: Netflix Lying in bed in the early hours of 7 October 2022, Samantha jumped as she heard a floorboard creak. 'My heart starts racing, my mind shoots to the hatchet I kept under my mattress,' she said. 'In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me. 'It gets tougher to breathe and I think he's going to kill me. I recognise immediately it's Christopher. In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me Samantha Stites 'I say, 'If you want to rape me just do it,' but he said, 'I just want to talk to you, not here.' 'He shoves a ball gag in my mouth, pulls out black gorilla tape, puts it around my head and hair multiple times. I feel like a prisoner.' Thomas handcuffed and blindfolded Samantha, and bundled her into her own car, along with her dog. She added: 'Once we leave my house the likelihood of me surviving goes down drastically - this really becomes a fight for my life.' Chilling plan Once they reached the bunker Thomas revealed his chilling plan for them to spend two weeks holed up together. He gave Samantha pyjamas, told her to use a bucket as a toilet and then chained her to a wall. Then he calmly explained that he intended to fake Samantha's death by leaving her paddle board in a nearby lake so people would assume she had drowned. She said: 'On the inside I'm freaking out - there's no way we're going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again? 'I need to stay focused, I can't fight my way out - this guy is faster and stronger than me. 'Christopher is a psychopath, he is someone I can't use normal logic with. I try not to react with disgust. On the inside I'm freaking out - there's no way we're going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again? Samantha Stites 'He talks about the TV show You, about a good-looking young man who becomes obsessed with a young woman, kidnaps her and keeps her in a glass room - which he says wasn't logistically possible, he looked into it. 'In the show he ends up murdering her.' Thomas gave Samantha a football shirt with her name on the back - which he'd bought when first he asked her out 11 years earlier. Over the next 13 hours Samantha begged him to let her go, promising not to go to the police. She said: 'I try to convince him we can be friends, and what he's done isn't a big deal. 'I said, 'As a social worker, I'm good at keeping secrets,' but he says, 'What will convince me is if you sleep with me.' 'I told him, 'I'm seeing somebody, I don't want to sleep with you,' but he said, 'That's the only way I can trust you.' 'I think this person is capable of killing me, he holds the key to my life. 'I don't see anything sharp I could hide and stab him with, not a screwdriver I could take the locks off the door, there is no way out of this. If I say no is he going to rape me anyway? 'I say, 'You promise me if I sleep with you, you'll let me out tonight?' He looked me in the eye and shook my hand. His integrity is important to him, I was banking on that." 'Dead inside' At the time, she thought the actual rape would be over quickly. She adds: 'This guy hasn't had a girlfriend in a long time, this might be a quick endeavour. 'But then he says, 'I masturbate 12 times a day so this might take a while.' I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn't want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn't want him to get angry Samantha Stites 'I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn't want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn't want him to get angry. 'He said, 'That's all I've wanted for so long, you can't imagine how long I've wanted that. You're the person I'm supposed to marry.' 'My stomach turns just thinking about that, but I said, 'I've held up my end of the bargain, you need to let me go'.' Astonishingly, Thomas agreed and drove Samantha home. 14 Samantha in hospital following the ordeal Credit: Netflix 14 Police examine the bunker where she was held Credit: Netflix 14 Thomas is arrested after kidnapping Samantha Credit: Netflix Within 36 hours he had been arrested, having chemically burnt the skin off his head and body in a desperate bid to conceal evidence. Cops then discovered he'd had a tracker on Samantha's car for months, and found more than $5,000 worth of receipts for tools and equipment he bought to create the lair - where he also hid rifles and a crossbow. It also emerged that he had been arrested for stalking a former colleague in 2009. Although he claimed Samantha participated in 'role play', Thomas was convicted of kidnapping, home invasion, torture, aggravated stalking and four counts of criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison. In a call to his mother from prison, he admitted he had thought about Samantha every day for 12 years. Samantha has chosen to share her story to help other women avoid harm. "I would want other women or people in general to know how to identify those signs that somebody is potentially stalking you or is at risk of harming you in some way," she says. "Knowing some things that you can do, places you can go to get help, and really advocating for yourself if you've got a gut feeling that something's wrong, it likely is and really pursuing that. "I felt like I did that to the best of my ability." Stalking Samantha is available on Disney+ from August 19.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
My stalker was inspired by Netflix show to kidnap & chain me to wall in torture chamber… I struck dark deal to survive
WAKING to a creaking floorboard in her bedroom, Samantha Stites was about to reach for a small axe hidden under her bed when she was suddenly attacked. Intruder Christopher Thomas gagged her, tied her up and bundled her into a car before driving her to a bunker in a storage unit - where he kept her chained to a wall. 14 14 14 But this horrific kidnap, in October 2022, was no random attack. Thomas had been stalking Samantha for over a decade, after becoming obsessed with her when they first met at Grand Valley State University in Michigan in 2011. And his terrifying plot to kidnap, rape and murder her was inspired by watching hit Netflix show You, which saw its deranged main character Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, torture women in a glass box hidden in the basement of his New York bookshop. Recalling the horrifying moment Thomas forced her into a custom-built soundproof bunker in a rental storage unit, Samantha said: 'He takes off my bandana, I'm in this torture chamber. 'Holy s***, this is like a horror film. Is he going to rape me and kill me in this room? I can't fight my way out.' Samantha had to summon every ounce of strength to survive and escape. Fighting for her life, she was eventually forced to strike a dark deal - to have sex with her sick captor in return for her freedom. In a gripping three-part Disney+ documentary Samantha bravely shares her story for the first time, recounting years of fear and astonishing resilience. Featuring never-before-seen police interview footage, CCTV surveillance from the storage unit and disturbing images and videos recovered from Thomas' phone, Stalking Samantha also includes powerful testimony from her friends and the investigators who helped bring her attacker to justice. Thomas's dark obsession took hold the moment he laid eyes on her, 11 years before the attack. Obsessed stalker faked pregnancy, swerved car into ex & bombarded him with messages in relentless campaign of harassment 14 After their first meeting Samantha turned down repeated requests for dates, but he refused to take no for an answer and became increasingly persistent. Several years older than her and socially awkward, Thomas bombarded Samantha with lengthy emotionally charged messages, insisting: 'I want you to be part of my life.' He nicknamed her Jellybean and quoted passages from the Bible, suggesting their relationship was God's plan. She said: 'Every time I saw him I was more and more scared.' Her former roommate Charissa Hayden explained: 'He was a nobody, a sad, lonely guy. She felt sorry for him and was nice to him. He took that and ran away with it.' Samantha's childhood friend Patrick Bruening added: 'He showed up with flowers at her work and I thought that was a huge red flag. "He thought he was her knight in shining armour. Not at all - he was creepy.' Although pathetic Thomas continued to harass Samantha, she ignored him for months until she finally snapped one day when he approached her at a bus stop. 'On the inside I was flaming mad, the angriest I've been because I thought we were past all this,' she recalled. She told Thomas: 'I've told you I don't want to see you, I don't want to speak to you, I don't want flowers, just leave me alone. 'I've told you multiple times, I've blocked you. I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you." She adds: 'I think he was surprised that I wasn't flattered. But he knows very clearly what my wishes are and doesn't care.' Another friend, Robin Trierweiler, said: 'All I wanted to do was shake her and say please take care of yourself. 'It seems like she's in danger and it's frustrating to watch her downplay that. It's not a normal situation, it's a hazard.' Drastic action 14 After graduating from college, Samantha returned to her home town of Elk Rapids, a small close knit community, where she thought the ordeal was behind her. But soon Thomas turned up there too, and even applied for the same internship she was starting. 'I just feared that I would never be free of him,' she said. 'I felt scared and threatened.' When he was spotted coming out of her apartment in 2016, Samantha took drastic action and applied for a personal protection order - banning him from all contact. Judge Norman Hayes, who granted the order for six years, recalled: 'I was really concerned. I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this. 'He was obsessed, absolutely obsessed with her. He's going to do something very severe - either rape, kill her or kidnap her. I was really concerned. I've never seen a stalking case as severe as this... He's going to do something very severe - either rape, kill her or kidnap her Judge Norman Hayes 'At the time it was the longest personal protection order I had ever granted.' With Thomas legally banned from making contact, Samantha's life gradually returned to normal. She trained as a social worker and bought a house, but in September 2022 - as soon as the restraining order expired - she spotted Thomas lurking as she played football. 'I stopped dead in my tracks,' said Samantha. 'I worry that he's coming after me in a vengeful way wanting to hurt me for denying him all those years ago.' Thomas also joined Samantha's gym and football league, but technically he had not done anything wrong and her request for another personal protection order was denied. Gagged and bound 14 14 14 Lying in bed in the early hours of 7 October 2022, Samantha jumped as she heard a floorboard creak. 'My heart starts racing, my mind shoots to the hatchet I kept under my mattress,' she said. 'In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me. 'It gets tougher to breathe and I think he's going to kill me. I recognise immediately it's Christopher. In a second somebody storms into my room and jumps on to me. I start screaming and I feel his hands around my throat and he begins to choke me Samantha Stites 'I say, 'If you want to rape me just do it,' but he said, 'I just want to talk to you, not here.' 'He shoves a ball gag in my mouth, pulls out black gorilla tape, puts it around my head and hair multiple times. I feel like a prisoner.' Thomas handcuffed and blindfolded Samantha, and bundled her into her own car, along with her dog. She added: 'Once we leave my house the likelihood of me surviving goes down drastically - this really becomes a fight for my life.' Chilling plan Once they reached the bunker Thomas revealed his chilling plan for them to spend two weeks holed up together. He gave Samantha pyjamas, told her to use a bucket as a toilet and then chained her to a wall. Then he calmly explained that he intended to fake Samantha's death by leaving her paddle board in a nearby lake so people would assume she had drowned. She said: 'On the inside I'm freaking out - there's no way we're going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again? 'I need to stay focused, I can't fight my way out - this guy is faster and stronger than me. 'Christopher is a psychopath, he is someone I can't use normal logic with. I try not to react with disgust. On the inside I'm freaking out - there's no way we're going to just talk for two weeks. Is he going to rape me and kill me? Will I see daylight again? Samantha Stites 'He talks about the TV show You, about a good-looking young man who becomes obsessed with a young woman, kidnaps her and keeps her in a glass room - which he says wasn't logistically possible, he looked into it. 'In the show he ends up murdering her.' Thomas gave Samantha a football shirt with her name on the back - which he'd bought when first he asked her out 11 years earlier. Over the next 13 hours Samantha begged him to let her go, promising not to go to the police. She said: 'I try to convince him we can be friends, and what he's done isn't a big deal. 'I said, 'As a social worker, I'm good at keeping secrets,' but he says, 'What will convince me is if you sleep with me.' 'I told him, 'I'm seeing somebody, I don't want to sleep with you,' but he said, 'That's the only way I can trust you.' 'I think this person is capable of killing me, he holds the key to my life. 'I don't see anything sharp I could hide and stab him with, not a screwdriver I could take the locks off the door, there is no way out of this. If I say no is he going to rape me anyway? 'I say, 'You promise me if I sleep with you, you'll let me out tonight?' He looked me in the eye and shook my hand. His integrity is important to him, I was banking on that." 'Dead inside' At the time, she thought the actual rape would be over quickly. She adds: 'This guy hasn't had a girlfriend in a long time, this might be a quick endeavour. 'But then he says, 'I masturbate 12 times a day so this might take a while.' I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn't want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn't want him to get angry Samantha Stites 'I felt myself go dead inside. It was painful, I cried and I shook. I didn't want him to know I was disgusted and terrified. I didn't want him to get angry. 'He said, 'That's all I've wanted for so long, you can't imagine how long I've wanted that. You're the person I'm supposed to marry.' 'My stomach turns just thinking about that, but I said, 'I've held up my end of the bargain, you need to let me go'.' Astonishingly, Thomas agreed and drove Samantha home. 14 Within 36 hours he had been arrested, having chemically burnt the skin off his head and body in a desperate bid to conceal evidence. Cops then discovered he'd had a tracker on Samantha's car for months, and found more than $5,000 worth of receipts for tools and equipment he bought to create the lair - where he also hid rifles and a crossbow. It also emerged that he had been arrested for stalking a former colleague in 2009. Although he claimed Samantha participated in 'role play', Thomas was convicted of kidnapping, home invasion, torture, aggravated stalking and four counts of criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison. In a call to his mother from prison, he admitted he had thought about Samantha every day for 12 years. Samantha has chosen to share her story to help other women avoid harm. "I would want other women or people in general to know how to identify those signs that somebody is potentially stalking you or is at risk of harming you in some way," she says. "Knowing some things that you can do, places you can go to get help, and really advocating for yourself if you've got a gut feeling that something's wrong, it likely is and really pursuing that. "I felt like I did that to the best of my ability." Stalking Samantha is available on Disney+ from August 19. 14
