Mary Valley killer still refuses to co-operate with police

Derek Bellington Sam remains in jail for murder, but won’t help police search for his victim’s body

Convicted Kenilworth killer Derek Bellington Sam (top left) remains uncooperative with police after he was jailed for killing Nambour schoolgirl Jessica Gaudie (bottom right). Sam is also linked to the suspicious deaths of Celena Bridge and Sabrina Glassop.

Convicted Kenilworth killer Derek Sam remains uncooperative with police as investigators continue their attempts to find the body of the teenage girl he murdered.

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Sunshine Coast Criminal Investigation Branch officer-in-charge Daren Edwards recently provided an update on the case after Sam was sentenced to 15 years in prison in August 2001 for the murder of 16-year-old Jessica Gaudie.

Brisbane, July 23, 2001. Derek Bellington Sam, 28, leaves Brisbane Supreme Court. (AAP Image/Vera Devai) NO ARCHIVING

Sam is also linked to the suspicious deaths of British backpacker Celena Bridge and teacher aide Sabrina Glassop.

The three women disappeared between July 1998 and August 1999 and have never been found.

The 28-year-old Ms Bridge was the first to disappear after she set off for a hike to the Little Yabba Creek camping ground at Kenilworth on July 16, 1998.

Teacher aide Ms Glassop, 47, vanished after last being seen by her mother at her Kenilworth district home on May 29, 1999.

Sam was eventually jailed for the murder of Ms Gaudie years after she went missing from Burnside in August 1999.

Derek Sam murder victim Jessica Gaudie.

Sen-Sgt Edwards said this month Sam remained in jail under “no body, no parole” laws, but still had not been any help to police.

“Derek Bellington Sam remains uncooperative, even though he was served a ‘no body no parole’ letter for the whereabouts of Jessica Gaudie’s body,” he said.

British backpacker Celena Bridge was last seen hiking along Booloumba Creek Road at Kenilworth in July 1998.

He said police were considering putting a briefing to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for further advice.

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Reports in 2017 stated Sam had “always denied being involved in the disappearances of the three women”, but detectives “secretly took Sam out of prison and back to where Ms Bridge and Ms Glassop vanished as part of the new push to solve the mysteries” in 2016.

Kenilworth woman Sabrina Ann Glassop has been missing since late May 1999.

At the time, police were also “discussing an alternative plan in which Sam would not be prosecuted if he leads them to the bodies of all three missing women”.

Sen-Sgt Edwards said at the time: “There remains an opportunity for Derek to help himself. All police are trying to get is an outcome for those families”.

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