Original subtitles

(phone vibrates) (dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 91 million of us worldwide

search for love online.

- She was looking for love.

- She wanted someone that would give her the freedom

to be herself.

- He looked like a normal nice guy.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] But internet dating can be a dangerous game.

- [Reporter] The mother of two small boys

reported missing early Sunday morning.

- [Narrator] In the UK alone, crime linked

to online dating has risen 450% over five years.

- This is a predator's paradise.

- It's a dark side of the web

that people don't realize exist.

- [Narrator] These are the real life love stories

that ended in tragedy.

- Each day she was living in fear.

- I knew that he was no angel

but he really had me tricked.

- [Narrator] So how well do you really know the person

you're dating?

- She didn't stand a chance against that monster

of a man.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

(instrumental music)

- Cardiff is a pretty small city.

Even though we're the capital of Wales

we're still pretty small compared to everywhere else.

- Cardiff is constantly changing,

a really dynamic place, very friendly place,

very much a multi-cultural society.

- Cardiff isn't a huge city

and it does tend have that

everybody knows everyone sense to it.

So if there is a murder or certainly a violent crime

or attack than people are incredibly focused on it.

- [Michelle] Hello Michelle speaking.

- [Caller] Michelle, there's a woman dead in the room 203.

- [Michelle] There's a body in the room?

Okay can you tell me anything about that?

- [Caller] Well, the girl 28 years,

a Muslim girl, we was together there in hotel

and she kill herself.

(slow dramatic music)

- I've known Nadine since I was 17, 18.

She was a good human being, she had a good soul as well.

She was kind, warm, loving.

If you were around her she'll make you feel so good

about yourself.

- Nadine was very popular, very popular with everyone.

She had this immense love for life, huge,

it was beyond the average person,

she was so happy, so content.

- Nadine was 12 years older than me

but we still had a really great relationship.

She was just always there when I needed her.

- She knew what she wanted in life

and she knew what she had to do in order to get it.

She's very intelligent, an educated woman.

- [Narrator] At 28, Nadine Aburas had lived

in Cardiff most of her life

and hoped to pursue a career in architecture and design.

- Nadine had a various interest in arts, architecture

and she loved to draw.

- Even though she only used charcoal

you can still sort of distinguish all of the leaves

and the shadows and everything.

- It's just right.

- I love it, I do.

She attracted a lot of attention,

I mean, she was really beautiful and confident and funny

so of course who wouldn't be attracted to that.

(slow dramatic music)

I don't think Nadine wanted to stay in Cardiff forever,

I think that she did want to be and live somewhere else,

somewhere that she could really make a living

with her artwork and achieve what she wanted to,

not confined by a small city.

Nadine did have her independence so she did live alone.

- Nadine, I think had many disappointments

in finding the right one for her,

the one that shared her love of life

and obviously she wanted someone

that would give her the freedom to be herself,

to be able to pursue a career or an interest

and compliment her in this way.

- She was 21 when she first got married

but he wasn't the right person for her

and it wasn't a healthy relationship so she ended it.

I think Nadine had been single for quite awhile,

she made it very clear that she could make it on her own

but she did want that companionship

and she did want someone to rely on,

so for her, yeah, she did definitely

want to explore new things.

- I really didn't want Nadine to feel so limited

to a choice in the area we lived in.

I said don't worry there's someone out there for everyone.

There's the internet, technology has gone on since my day.

Basically, Nadine said,

oh I don't to see really going on dating sites, mama,

you don't know what's gonna happen.

I said, oh well I'll do it and I sat her up.

And I said let's just see.

- Nadine wasn't overly optimistic

but she was willing to anything.

- To be honest when we sat down, Nadine and I

I felt like I was a chaperone (laughs)

and I took over, I was getting excited,

he looks nice, what about connecting with this one

and she kinda said, Mom, you're scaring me. (laughs)

- Nadine was really open about who she met online.

She'd even show us her profile and the messages

that she would get.

She received a lot of attention.

- And this is how it developed,

and this is where she met Almhari.

- Online dating opens up a huge range of opportunities

for dating people in different countries

on the other side of the world.

So for somebody like Nadine

who lived in a relatively small city,

this may have been quite a glamorous opportunity

or at the least something to take away

from the day to day life that she was living.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In 2012, Nadine met 45 year old New Yorker,

Sammy Almhari on a Muslim dating website.

- When I first came across Almhari's profile page,

he did seem quite a lot of like Nadine,

he seems like somebody who was quite assertive

but also his messages were really charismatic

and very witty and funny.

I just said well, this guy seems really interesting

because he lives in America and he has a stable job,

he seems very responsible

and that's exactly how he came across.

She wanted someone who wasn't exactly like her

who lived in the same city and the same town

and the same culture and for her he was something different.

- When I seen his profile he seemed to be a fine guy

who projected himself forward as a professional.

He gave himself confidence.

Nadine thought that there is a possible here.

- [Narrator] The pair hit it off

and their trans-Atlantic relationship developed quickly.

They began to talk for hours throughout the day and night.

- I did think that it was quite unusual,

the intensity of it

but at the same time I thought

well it is a blind dating service

and it is difficult to talk to somebody so far away.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Sammy Almhari said

he was a successful businessman.

Soon he was showering Nadine with gifts of laptops, phones

and offers of financial support.

- I think to him, I think he mentioned that he had family

that were quite wealthy

and that money was of no object to him.

He'd Skype her from his home

and he'd show her around this house,

everything was just so perfect.

- [Narrator] After a year of online dating,

their relationship became very serious.

There was even talk of marriage.

In 2013, Sammy came to the UK to visit Nadine.

Although he made two to three short visits

over the next year,

their relationship remained mainly online.

- He had said, Nadine we are going to be man and wife

and I am going to support you

and I am going to sponsor you while you're in college.

- He would say I really want to help fund your education.

You really do have a lot of talent

and you need to nurture that.

And for Nadine no guy had ever helped her

accomplish her ambitions

so for her this was something that was heading

in a good direction.

She did say Aneese, I don't think

that I should take money off him

or I don't feel like I should take anything off him

because that's his but I'd say well

if he's going to be your husband

then just get used to it, you deserve that

why shouldn't he be able to give that to you?

- And with this, Nadine was so sure they were going to have

such a fantastic life

because the promises just kept stacking up

and they were immense.

- The gifts that Nadine received from Sammy

could have been a way of him trying to control her.

He may have been trying to make her feel indebted to him

in some way such that she felt like she had to have contact

with him and had to be friendly towards him

even when there may have been

some warning signs of risk there.

(dramatic music)

- And then it intensified more,

she was getting up almost every single day

at like crazy hours of the night

to pick up his phone calls.

We started to think that maybe something

was going on with this guy that wasn't entirely right.

- [Answering Machine] You have 45 old messages.

- [Sammy] Pick up, pick up, I love you.

(beeping)

Hello, are you there?

Hello, hello?

(beeping)

Pick up the phone.

You want money, you want a car, I will do anything.

Hello, I love you, hello?

- Some of these constant phone calls to Nadine

during the night could have been a sign of affection,

he may have been showing how much he cared about her

and liked her, however, it could also

be a bit of a warning sign

that he'd become obsessed with her

and his frequent contact with her

was an attempt to control her.

- [Narrator] In July 2014, Sammy paid for tickets

for Nadine to visit him in the United States.

It would be her first trip to New York.

- She was happy, she was like anyone would

when they go on holiday, I just said to her

I hope you have fun.

- Nadine really wanted to visit New York.

- The excitement of traveling to New York

kind of give her that well,

what's the worst that could happen?

She went there, she didn't like him, she came home end of.

- [Narrator] But New York was to have

horrifying consequences for Nadine.

She would to see a totally different side

to Sammy Almhari.

- After arriving in New York and she had promptly said that,

oh I'm coming back home.

She'd been in an altercation with him

and I think he punched her

and she'd sent over a few pictures

and in one of the pictures she'd had a bruised lip.

- Black eyes, battered and bruised torso

that shocked all of us too

and she still tried,

she still tried to keep herself together.

- When she came back from New York

she didn't want anything to do with him,

she said no, you know what that's it,

this is as far as I go.

- [Narrator] It wasn't just physical abuse

that Almhari had inflicted

he was also in possession of some very compromising

and embarrassing photos of Nadine.

- He had filmed her and photographed her

and he was now blackmailing her.

You leave me and I will post everything that I have on you

on the internet.

- I'll post these all over Facebook,

I'll send them to your brother,

I'll send them to your friends

and everyone will see what you are

and Nadine was scared.

- [Narrator] One of Nadine's brothers

saw the pictures that Almhari had been threatening her with.

- She said to me Mom, I'm gonna have to leave Cardiff,

I'm gonna have to leave my life,

I'm gonna have to change my name.

What can we do, where are we gonna go?

- Sammuel Almhari turns to blackmail, online blackmail,

revenge pornography, he's got these images

while he's losing her, the only way he now knows

he can control her from now on

is by blackmailing her with the images

that he's got of Nadine's and say you are mine.

I possess you.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Nadine was desperate to find a way

to stop the blackmail.

- She said I know now, he's a liar,

he's an abusive psychopath, he's crazy

and I'll never be free of him

if I don't take back control of my life

and everything he wants to blackmail me with.

And this was the plan

and I remember the conversation quite well,

the plan is invite him over here,

show him I'm not afraid of him,

that he's now on my soil, in my family

and that what he did was unacceptable

and I need him to acknowledge

that he destroyed everything

that could have been between us.

And I thought that's a good plan, it's great.

- [Narrator] It had been nearly three years

since Nadine and Almhari first met online.

(dramatic music)

- Nadine had arranged that she would go to London

to pick him up.

She wanted basically the pictures back

and she wanted to regain that control in her life.

No, no, it's fine I'll be back don't worry Aneesa

I'll be back and she sort of sped off.

(dramatic music)

- On New Year's Eve 2014, it was a very busy time

for South Wales police as a force.

- [Narrator] Detective Chief Inspector Morgan

was the senior investigating officer on the case.

- At 20 past 12 that day the call came from the Future Inn

that the manager there had found a deceased female

within room 203 of the hotel.

It was reported there may have been a suicide.

It was laid out as a typical hotel room,

the bathroom to the left, a bed, a sofa

and laying on the bare mattress on that bed,

and dressed and almost with her hands laid out

was Nadine Aburas.

There was a pretty crude hand-written note

to the side of the bed reported to have been written

by Nadine and the last words were along the lines

of my love Sammy, I'm sorry we've come to an end.

- [Narrator] Almost immediately the suicide note

seemed suspicious.

- I think the initial observations

there was marks around the neck,

clothing didn't quite sit right.

It was then about 3:15 p.m.

the Major Crime Investigation team were called

because there were real suspicions

that this was homicide.

- [Narrator] In the hours after Nadine's body was discovered

her mother and sister were becoming increasingly worried.

(beeping)

- [Aneesa] Hey Nads, it's Aneesa wake up, bye!

(beeping)

- [Andrea] Please call home, I'm really worried,

I hope you're okay.

- So from two in the afternoon

till I think it was 10 at night

we hadn't had any communication.

And then all of a sudden the detectives walked in

with one of my eldest brothers

and they said we think that you should sit down

we have something to tell you

and just immediately we knew that something had happened.

- I shut down and I

and then they said you have to sit down because

and I said oh my God just take me to Nadine

let me just see Nadine and everything will be fine,

I just want to see Nadine, I don't want to,

please take me.

I remember trying to beg them take me to see Nad,

I don't care.

- I just sort of dropped to the floor

because I just couldn't believe it.

And my mom immediately it was him, it was Almhari

and I said Mom we don't know that

and she said yeah we do.

(dramatic music)

- Andrea Aburas's worst fears were about to be confirmed

by the hotel's CCTV.

- There was no one else involved.

They were the only two people who had gone into that room.

And Sammy Almhari was the only person to come out.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Detectives had a prime suspect.

They started digging deeper into Almhari's background

in the U.S.

- Well you're always looking for motive

and the reason, what was the trigger,

what set Sammy Almhari off that night.

By that time we'd had information his address

from New York City Police Department.

It was apparent he wasn't a multimillionaire businessman.

He actually drove limousines,

worked in the grocers, he didn't live an affluent lifestyle.

- With Samuel Almhari for want of a better word

he came across as a Walter Mitty.

He was leading a different life in his head

with from what was reality.

He was living not in the most salubrious of places

in New York but his online profile was well, well

he was really rich, he was very engaging person,

well actually he was a manipulator and he was a bully.

- Sammy Almhari created an online persona to impress.

He's lied about certain aspects of his life,

about the wealthy house

but he's done enough to be able to match with someone

who's 28 years of age like Nadine

and from then he can automatically take control.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Further proof of Almhari's instability

came to light in the hours

after Nadine's body was discovered.

Almhari called the hotel a total of four times.

The conversations were recorded by a police officer.

- [Samuel] Did you find her body?

Nadine she's a nice woman who's dead,

she's a very nice woman, she give me pleasure in my life.

- [Police Officer] Obviously we want to sort out

what's happened to her, don't we?

- [Samuel] She's already dead.

Listen to me, you check the body in the room,

I love her so much you know?

(beeping)

- Almhari's behavior after the murder

where by he makes several phone calls

can only really be described as erotic behavior.

He may have been panicking,

he may have not known what was happening

or he could have got some entertainment from that

but it could also suggest someone who is so unstable

that they don't really know what to do next.

- [Narrator] Detectives had to

piece together Nadine's last known movements.

Detective Constable Darren Millard

was the key role investigator on the case.

- In every inquiry, one of the main witnesses is CCTV.

It's not a human witness but it gives the officers in charge

of the case a timeline.

It allows us to follow suspects or witnesses

on workouts what happens and what order what happened

and what time.

- [Narrator] CCTV showed Nadine and Almhari

arriving at her home on the 28th of December 2014.

(dramatic music)

Two days later on the 30th of December

one of Nadine's brothers is seen arriving at her flat.

- My brother was the same brother who had

opened her phone and seen the picture of Nadine

that Almhari had sent

so he'd obviously walked into her flat

and found that Almhari was there

and then there must have been some altercation.

- [Narrator] A fight allegedly broke out

between Almhari and Nadine's brother.

(dramatic music)

Just over 30 minutes later Almhari

was escorted from Nadine's flat by her elder brother

who had arrived after the alleged fight.

- And then he said to him leave Cardiff,

don't come back because should you come back

I fear for what's gonna happen to you

because I'm Nadine's brother and I will not have her harmed

by any man while I'm alive.

- [Narrator] CCTV footage showed him being driven

to the Cardiff Central Rail Station.

(dramatic music)

Nadine's brother left him there.

- My eldest brother had said that he'd taken Almhari

to the train station, told him to get on a train

and leave and so we'd all assumed

that Almhari was hopefully back in New York

by the next morning.

- [Narrator] But that wasn't the case.

Almhari entered a convenient store

at the front of the station.

It was here he discovered that during the altercation

with Nadine's brother he had left

some crucial belongings behind.

- [Darren] He was minus his passport he was minus his phone,

he made a decision to purchase a bottle of gin.

- [Narrator] Almhari left the train station.

- Almhari being escorted to the train station

by Nadine's family could have represented to him

a great rejection or humiliation.

His anger may have grown at Nadine for this

pushing responsibility away from him for his own actions

onto other people.

- [Darren] He then made a decision to get a taxi

back down to the Cardiff area.

- [Narrator] He booked into a local hotel

at around 8:30 just a few hundred meters

from Nadine's flat.

After checking in, he headed to the bar

and downed nine tequila shots, one after another.

- Of course the CCTV there shows him going to the bar

drinking the nine tequilas, it shows him on the telephone

and we know the telephone call he made was to Nadine Aburas

asking for her to bring his passport and phone

to the hotel.

- [Narrator] Nadine arrived at the hotel at 10 past nine.

(dramatic music)

- Ultimately Nadine was trying to return the passport

could in my view had been a way of her trying

to solve the problem.

She was taking responsibility for what was going on

in her life.

- [Narrator] Around 40 minutes later

the pair left room 203.

(dramatic music)

They drove to nearby City Road

and went to a local restaurant called Lilo's.

- They managed to get a table in Lilo's

and she'd went there and I thought smart girl,

she went to Lilo's because she'd waitressed there

she was familiar with everyone in there.

- [Garreth] They ordered food, Sammy became very aggressive,

he was appeared to be intoxicated, drunk

from witness testimony.

And he stayed about 20 no longer,

long enough to finish their meal

and then they left.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] At around 11, Nadine and Almhari

arrived back at the hotel.

(dramatic music)

- [Garrett] I believe they went to Sammy's room

and unfortunately that's the last time Nadine

is seen alive.

- [Narrator] Between 11:15 and midnight Nadine

was strangled to death.

(dramatic music)

- Just after midnight, Sammy comes down

and we got CCTV going to a casino near the hotel.

- [Narrator] At the casino Almhari withdrew money

from the cash point.

- [Garrett] And again the CCTV even there

it shows injuries on his face,

it shows him going to the bar,

it shows him drinking more tequilas.

- Looking at the CCTV you could see

that he was constantly drinking.

- Clearly he had a problem with alcohol

in this instance he's murdered Nadine

under the influence of alcohol.

- [Narrator] In a few short hours, Almhari

had bought 11 tequila shots, two beers and a bottle of gin.

Despite being well over the drink drive limit,

he stole Nadine's car and headed for the motorway.

- So the timeline was very detailed

and a jigsaw was coming together.

We know that he got in Nadine's vehicle

he headed towards the M4 and then driven east.

- [Narrator] Sammy Almhari was now on the run.

- It quite was clear that someone had been murdered,

the details surrounding the death weren't clear

in terms of a how Nadine died

but all we knew was that the killer was at large

but also other information started to come out as well

from people around the hotel that there was an individual

with an American accent and that they weren't there anymore

but they were one of the last people seen with Nadine.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] On New Year's Day, detectives

searched Nadine's flat for clues.

- And there we had a significant find.

Under one of the chairs was Samuel Almhari's mobile phone,

which obviously fallen out during the stew event

and that phone had a wealth of evidence

for the investigation.

There were a lot of messages a boost of messages to Nadine.

We could see how acrimonious he was.

We could see that there was a pattern

of coercive, controlling, jealous behavior

by Samuel Almhari.

One screenshot in particular was don't mistake my kindness

for weakness I will choke you

with the same hand that feeds you.

They met online and unfortunately for her

she's met a dangerous, controlling manipulative individual.

- [Narrator] On Nadine's answer phone machine,

police found more threatening messages from Almhari.

(beeping)

- [Samuel] Pick up the phone.

You will be very very very very sorry.

You'll be very very sorry.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The man hunt continued.

Using automatic number plate recognition technology,

police tracked Almhari heading towards London

in the early hours of the first of December 2014.

CCTV showed him arriving at a major airport.

- He left got to Heathrow fairly quickly,

dumped Nadine's car, bought a ticket

and then he was flying out straight away.

- [Narrator] Almhari was about

to flee the UK kickstarting one

of the biggest investigations South Wales Police

had ever seen.

- It was totally different

from anything I've dealt with before, totally different.

It was a manhunt.

- All we knew was that there was

an international arrest warrant issued for this individual

and that the person the police were looking for

was Sammy Almhari.

- [Narrator] Detective Chief Inspector Tudor Thomas

was part of the team tracking Almhari down.

- It was clearly understood by me

that our main suspect had fled the UK

and we were making all efforts that we could

to actually pinpoint where he'd gone.

We had no clear understanding of where he was going

to head to in the world.

- We had no idea where he was at this point.

He could have been anywhere,

he could have still been in Cardiff for all we knew.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] For Nadine's family,

there was more horror to come.

Nadine hadn't returned Almhari's phone to him

on the night of her murder and so he'd stolen hers.

As the huge manhunt gathered force

he used that phone to cruelly torment them.

- We were once again thrown into this despair

of unbelievably, unimaginable horror

of having Nad's phone text us

and insult and assault us.

- My mom got a text from Nadine's phone

and it said something along the lines of

it's your fault, you're next.

And he would send messages saying,

no your brother killed her, it wasn't me.

He had the confidence to parade the fact

that there was a dead body in that room

and he would quip as though it was an entertainment.

- And you've got this animal, really who is not only intent

on committing that crime he's then contacting nearest

and dearest people to Nadine Aburas and taunting them.

- I didn't feel safe anymore.

I was walking to the school bus,

that was impossible for me, I needed my brother

to escort me 'cause I just felt like he was everywhere

and being in my house it was impossible.

- Almhari's taunting of Nadine's family

by making phone calls from Nadine's phone

seems a particularly callous act.

I think that it's possible that he was getting

some gratification from that

but it seems like a very erratic thing to do

and this erratic behavior hints at a lifestyle

that's very, very unstable

and someone actually who's very dangerous.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Six days after her daughter's murder,

Nadine's mother made an emotional appeal

for Almhari to give himself up.

- Sammy, please I'm asking you as Nadine's mother

please turn yourself into authorities

and please help us find the answers that we need

so we can let Nadine rest in peace.

- [Narrator] But Almhari was already 3,000 miles away.

Records show that on the 31st of December,

he had boarded a flight from Heathrow to Qatar.

- His ultimate destination we didn't know,

we knew that he was somebody from the United States

but he also had connections in other parts of the world.

- I want to hear from anyone that has any information

on the origins of his whereabouts any knowledge of him,

any sightings of him and those to be reported to the police

or law enforcement agencies.

But I must stress the importance

that he's not to be approached.

- I think he enjoyed the game,

Sammy Almhari certainly enjoyed the game,

he enjoyed the fact that he was able to flee the country.

I mean, if you look at his thought process

after killing Nadine, he's away booking a flight

to a part of the world where he'd clearly thought

we'd never be able to find him.

- He was leaving himself so open,

using my sister's phone, he was in a volatile position

where hopefully he should be easily tracked.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The manhunt for Nadine's murderer

had now gone global.

- We knew that there was an international search for him.

In terms of where Sammy Almhari could have been,

it was anyone's guess.

- Sammy Almhari stole the victim's phone

and that gave us a very strong line of inquiry

in terms of working out where he potentially

was going to be.

- [Narrator] It also gave police a direct line

to their fugitive.

- [Garrett] Hello Sammy is that you?

- [Sammy] Hey I missed you.

- [Garrett] You missed me?

Where are you now Sammy?

(laughs)

What's funny Sammy?

Why are you laughing?

- [Sammy] I'm so far you cannot get me, I'm in Cuba,

Cuba, Havanna.

- [Detective] Is that the truth that you're in Havana?

- [Sammy] I'm in Havana.

- Sammy Almhari consistently told me

he was in Cuba, in Havana and that we wouldn't find him.

Of course, we knew full well that he was in Tanzania.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] By tracking Nadine's phone,

police had been able to geo-locate their suspect.

He was no longer in Qatar, he was now in Africa.

- There was use on that phone

which anchored in within Tanzania

and in particular with Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

- [Narrator] The manhunt for Almhari

now spanned three continents

and he was still at large.

- For me as the senior arresting officer,

I have to keep the moral of the team up,

I have to keep up hope for the family

but was I deep down thinking we could lose him here,

absolutely, there was always that concern.

- [Narrator] South Wales Police faced a race against time

to capture their suspect.

They decided to help track down Almhari in Africa.

- We then sent officers out to Tanzania.

It was a bold move.

This is in a part of the world

which we had absolutely no jurisdiction.

But we thought it was really worthwhile

to locate him and arrest Sammy Almhari.

- [Narrator] DCI Thomas was part of the team of officers

working closely with the Tanzanian police.

- It was a real shock to the senses.

We were flying into a city of one and a half,

two million people,

just a hugely densely populated part of Africa.

- The Tanzanian police with the supportitude

of a very closely capturing him in Dar es Salaam.

- [Narrator] But they were too late.

Almhari had vanished once again.

- If I'm honest, he's starting to think he's getting away

and time is going on.

- We got further information to say he's moved on

and then he made telephone calls on a border crossing.

And my fear at that stage was that he's gone

into another country.

There's the real sinking feeling that we've missed

our opportunity, he slipped through our fingers

within Tanzania.

- [Narrator] Nearly three weeks after Nadine's murder

and with all leads seemingly exhausted,

detectives returned to Cardiff empty handed.

But Tanzanian police were about

to have a dramatic breakthrough.

- [Narrator] Within 24 hours of getting back to the UK

I got an early morning telephone call

to give me the good news that they'd arrested Sammy Almhari

and he was in custody in Dar es Salaam.

- He was arrested, I think he was hiding in a bush

out near the border.

- [Narrator] On the 22nd of March, 2015,

DCI Morgan and DC Millard flew out once again

to Dar es Salaam to extradite Almhari

to face justice in the UK.

- What struck me more than anything

is that he was so arrogant really just

it was like he owned the office.

His demeanor totally changed when he got to Heathrow

because he didn't go through customs along the way,

he got taken straight to the Heathrow Police Station

Glad to see the smile taken off his face.

- He was finally charged with murder

again a fantastic moment really.

I just think he had this plural belief

that he was gonna get away with murder,

that he was in Africa

and that we wouldn't have the capacity

or capability to locate him out there.

- The confidence was a facade like his whole life,

I think has been a facade.

His online profile said everything about him

but when you chip away it wasn't correct.

- [Narrator] After a number of clinical assessments,

Almhari was declared fit to stand trial.

He refused to plead guilty to Nadine's murder.

- The most frustrating part really

after he was charged, I fully expected him

to take responsibility for what he'd done

but that certainly wasn't the case.

We then had 18 months of legal wranglings.

- Waiting for the trial was exhausting emotionally

and physically.

We really wanted to know the truth of what happened,

we had no details really as to what exactly had transpired

between Almhari and Nadine.

It was just a really difficult 18 months.

It was stop and start, first he would say

yeah, let's have hearing and then he would change his mind

and change his plea.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Almhari's trial for the murder of Nadine

finally began on the 18th of October 2016.

- After one day of a trial he finally stood up

and pleaded guilty to murdering Nadine Aburas.

- I became aware that he pleaded guilty on the second day

and I ran down to the court and I met mom

and we had a big,

the Welsh word is (speaks in foreign language),

it's an embrace, it's a hug

and it was one of the best feelings I had,

I was so glad that she had some closure,

her and the family.

I personally think he couldn't face the family in court.

He knew what he'd done and I think

that's why he pleaded guilty.

- He was sentenced to life imprisonment

and must serve a minimum term of 17 years.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] During the trial, police found evidence

that Almhari installed spyware

on Nadine's phone and laptop.

It meant he could track her every move.

- In the case of Sammy Almhari, Nadine obviously thought

this is a nice person, actually he was a manipulator,

he was a bully but she never knew that

until it was too late.

- Online dating may give the impression of control,

it may make people feel a little bit safer

because there's obviously not that face to face contact,

but I think the reality is you're still very vulnerable.

- I mean, this is the first particular incident

of this gravity that I've dealt with following somebody

meeting online but more and more we're seeing

various offenses being committed

through that online environment.

In this case it was the worse possible set of circumstances,

where it sadly resulted in somebody's murder.

- It sounds to me like Nadine wanted to see the best

in people and she paid a price for that

but what we can learn from this case

are the dangers of online dating

and it's actually somebody could be in essence

spinning us a yarn meaning that what they're telling us

isn't the truth.

It's very, very difficult to find out the truth

especially where there's a trans-Atlantic issue

to deal with.

(dramatic music)

- He doesn't mean anything to me

and I don't want my sister's memory

to be tainted by his presence.

His action doesn't define my sister's life

and I can't allow it to and I have no anger, no hatred,

nothing, I'm numb when it comes Almhari.

I don't give him the time of day.

- You know with all that's transpired

to whatever he tried to take from us,

he will never take the memory of Nadine.

The unbelievable privilege

of having a daughter so beautiful,

so kind, so considerate of others,

he will never take that away.

(dramatic music)