Sam returns for a fleeting visit but butcher box plans that she wants to settle down in Walford once more. However, Sam takes things more seriously than Beppe does. Sam returns to Walford with her mother. Sam has another brief relationship with Steve Owen, however, he is using her again as a final act of revenge against Phil.
Phil then humiliates Sam by revealing their affair to Steve’s widow Mel. Phil sends Ricky to Brazil on an errand where he meets Sam, and she returns with him to London, using a fake passport. She immediately causes a stir by drawing attention to herself and reignites her old feud with Bianca. The Mitchells try to keep her hidden, but Bianca, jealous of Ricky’s renewed feelings for Sam, calls the police and informs them that Sam is back in the country. Peggy visits Sam in prison and discovers she is heavily pregnant. Sam gives birth to a boy, Richard, but announces that she is giving him up for adoption.
Jack decides that he wants to meet Ricky, so Sam allows this to happen. Ricky in Portugal and that he is better off with Jack. Sam, now living in Spain, returns to visit Phil in prison after he summons her back to the U. When Sam arrives back in Walford, Sharon and Kat are unhappy to see her and she reveals that Phil has left her in charge of his assets again, whilst he is currently in prison. Sam continues to disturb Sharon and Kat with threats under the disguise of Jonah, and she plans to manipulate Kat into signing control of Peggy’s to Jonah, though Kat is unaware that it is Sam. It is later revealed that Sam is working with Jonah to fleece her family, but her plans are stalled when Phil returns from prison.
