Queensland crime: Derek Sam may not be prosecuted if he leads police to bodies of missing women
POLICE are discussing a plan not to prosecute a killer if he leads them to the bodies of three women who vanished in southeast Queensland.
Crime & Justice
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CONVICTED killer Derek Sam tried to avoid being taken back to a rural road where two women vanished almost 20 years ago.
Sam, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Sunshine Coast schoolgirl Jessica Gaudie, is being investigated over the disappearance of British backpacker Celena Bridge and teacher’s aide Sabrina Glassop.
The Courier-Mail last week revealed detectives expect to complete a brief of evidence on the Bridge and Glassop cases within months.
Police are also discussing a plan not to prosecute Sam if he leads them to the bodies of all three missing women.
As part of renewed investigations, police last year secretly removed Sam from Lotus Glen prison in the state’s far north and took him to the area where Bridge and Glassop vanished.
Detective Senior-Sergeant Daren Edwards said to frustrate police attempts to move him from Lotus Glen jail, Sam asked family members to visit the prison so he would have a reason to stay there.
“He tried to do what he could not to travel or be brought away from the jail,” Sen-Sgt Edwards said.
Sam has not had visitors at Lotus Glen for years.
Police obtained a court order to remove the 43-year-old from the jail and took him to Booloumba Creek Rd, outside Kenilworth.
Sam has denied being involved in the disappearances.
Bridge, 28, was last seen walking along Booloumba Creek Rd on July 16, 1998.
Glassop, 46, disappeared from her home on the same road less than a year later, on May 29, 1999. Gaudie, 16, was babysitting Sam’s children in Nambour when she disappeared on August 28, 1999.
Sam became eligible for parole last year but has not yet applied.
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