Suzy Lamplugh murder suspect dies in prison nearly 40 years after she went missing with her body never found
A MAN suspected of murdering missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh’s has died in prison.
John Cannan, 70, was put behind bars in 1989 for the abduction and murder of Shirley Banks.
The killer was later suspected in the murder of Suzy Lamplugh, 25, from London.
The estate agent disappeared in 1986 and her body has never been found.
The Prison Service confirmed Cannan’s death at HMP Full Sutton.
A spokesperson said: “HMP Full Sutton prisoner John Cannan died on 6 November.
“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
Former detective chief superintendent Jim Dickie, who led a re-investigation into Suzy’s disappearance in the early 2000’s, said: “Cannan’s death means he cannot harm anyone else now.
“But it also means he takes with him to the grave the secret of where Suzy’s remains lie.
“I feel very sad for Suzy’s family that they are not going to find out from Cannan where he put her body.
“Unless he has left some confessional documentation with a solicitor or with the prison he has taken the secret of where she lies with him.”
Mr Dickie added: “I believe there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing the finger at Cannan for Suzy’s murder.
“Forensic analysis of samples found in Suzy’s car could yet yield a link to Cannan at some point but it is too late now.”
Suzy vanished after leaving her office to meet a client named “Mr Kipper” to show him two houses in Fulham.
She didn’t return to work after the appointment and was never seen again.
Over the decades, police have chased up a number of leads relating to the disappearance, but have continued to draw blanks.
The 25-year-old was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.
Cold case detectives named Cannan as the prime suspect of her murder in 2002.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.
A fellow prison inmate came forward after Cannan was named as the suspect.
He claimed that Suzy had been buried under the patio at Cannan’s mother’s house.
Police returned to the property to dig up a section of the garden in 2018 but nothing was found.
The Suzy Lamplugh case
By Sophie Roberts
SUZY LAMPLUGH went missing in West London in 1986 but the case still remains unsolved nearly 40 years later.
Suzy Lamplugh was an estate agent who was 25 years old when she went missing.
On the day she vanished, the young woman had an appointment to show a man, who she believed to be called Mr Kipper, around a property in Shorrolds Road, Fulham, West London.
After leaving the office for the appointment Lamplugh didn’t return to work – she was never seen again.
She was officially declared dead in 1994, eight years after she was last seen alive.
On July 28 1986, Suzy Lamplugh arranged to meet Mr Kipper in Fulham and was declared missing shortly afterwards.
The police launched their investigation and found Lamplugh’s white Ford Fiesta parked outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road, one and a half miles away from where her appointment with Mr Kipper was on Shorrolds Road.
Searches of the vehicle showed that Lamplugh’s car key was missing, the handbrake was off, and her purse had been left behind.
The Metropolitan Police conducted DNA tests on 800 unidentified bodies and skeletal remains in an attempt to identify Lamplugh in October 1987.
They tested remains that matched the missing woman’s description but were not successful in finding her amongst them.
Convicted murderer and rapist John Cannan was questioned about Lamplugh’s disappearance between 1989 and 1990.
Cannan had been released from a prison hostel just three days before Lamplugh vanished and was said to have used the name “Kipper” in jail.
A criminologist also linked Lamplugh, through DNA evidence, to a Ford Sierra that Cannan once used with the false number plate SLP 386S.
The investigation into Lamplugh’s disappearance was reopened in 2000 after police traced a car that may have been linked to her vanishing.
In December, Cannan was arrested for the murder and questioned but not charged as there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
Police publicly announced that they suspected Cannan of the crime, despite him not being charged when he was arrested two years earlier.
Cannan denied all allegations.
Following the murder of five prostitutes, police investigating Lamplugh’s disappearance checked prosecution files of Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright in 2008.
Even though Wright knew Lamplugh in the 1980s, when they both worked on the QE2, no other evidence linked the serial killer to the crime.
Police attempted to uncover more evidence by excavating a field adjacent to Drakes Broughton village in Worcestershire in 2010 but the case continued to run dry.
Police searching for Lamplugh began digging up a garden on October 29, 2018, in the hope of solving the mystery.
The Sun exclusively reported at the time that the property in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, was the former home of the mother of prime suspect John Cannan.
It was believed that his mum was living in a different part of the country and there was no suggestion that she was involved in or had any knowledge of this or any of her son’s crimes.
A forensic archaeologist guided police during the search, using ground-penetrating radar, but it yielded no evidence at the property.
New evidence that Lamplugh’s suspected killer was seen hurling a large suitcase into a canal 34 years ago offered fresh hope of finding her in 2020.
The sighting was made by a lorry driver walking to work at 5am along a towpath next to the canal in Brentford, West London.
There, he came “face to face” with Cannan who was pushing a large holdall on a trolley.
Seconds later, he heard a splash and looked round to allegedly see Cannan running away.
The lorry driver reported what he had seen to Brentford police, the first of three occasions he is said to have tried to alert officers.
However, there were other clues which suggested Cannan was Mr Kipper long before this tip-off.
He was given the nickname “Kipper” by others at a bail hostel where he lived at the time of the murder — due to his fondness for the fish and a habit of having a “kip”.
Cannan was being held in Full Sutton prison, in East Yorkshire, at the time of his death for the murder of another woman, newlywed Shirley Banks, in 1987.
In 1989 he was convicted of rape, attempted abduction, murder and attempted robbery following a series of crimes against young professional women.
The evening before Shirley was killed, Cannan had attempted to kidnap a woman.
He was also found to have raped a third at knifepoint in Reading, Berkshire, a year earlier.
Cannan was handed three life sentences, and despite originally being given a whole life tariff, this was later reduced to a minimum 35-year sentence.
His attempts to appeal the mandatory 35 years had been rejected.
Cannon’s bid for freedom was denied in October last year.
The panel found he was too dangerous to let go from the Category A prison.
The panel concluded: “After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the evidence presented at the hearing, the panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public.
“Nor did the panel recommend to the Secretary of State that Mr Cannan should be transferred to an open prison.”
Cannan began his sadistic rampage against women when he was just 14 after he assaulted a woman inside a phone booth.
In 1980, he choked his mistress during sex and told her he was going to kill her when she tried to leave him.
The killer committed his first rape a year later when he attacked tied up another lover and attacked her in front of her mum at knifepoint.
He was jailed for eight years in 1981 but later transferred to an open prison – meaning he was on day release at the time of Suzy’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, another suspect in the Suzy Lamplugh case was serial killer Steven Wright – also known as the Suffolk Strangler and the Ipswich Ripper.
Suzy had worked as a beautician on the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1982 and Wright was working there at the same time as a steward.
Wright is a convicted serial killer, who murdered five women in 2006.
Wright’s father, Conrad Wright, told the Mirror he was “troubled” by pictures of Wright with estate agent Suzy, before she vanished in 1986.
In July 2021, Wright was arrested in jail on suspicion of killing Victoria Hall, who was found naked in a ditch in 1999.
Suzy’s brother Richard spoke out at the time, calling for police to follow-up his sister’s case.
He told The Sunday Mirror: “I don’t see any reason why police couldn’t speak to Wright about Suzy’s murder.
“They are trying to solve another case and are probably concentrating on that one.
“But if Wright has been linked, if the police thought it was relevant, then it would be worthwhile.
“Whether it’s Cannan or Wright, I don’t know. What’s difficult is not knowing where she is.
“It would be lovely to find her. To have somewhere where we could scatter her ashes.”
The Metropolitan Police investigated Wright in 2008 in relation to Suzy’s disappearance.
But, a senior Metropolitan Police officer described the link as “speculative”.
THE SUZY LAMPLUGH TRUST
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust was established by the estate agent’s parents, Paul and Diana Lamplugh.
The Trust played a key role in the passing of the Protection from Harassment Act, which clamped down on crimes involving stalking.
According to the charity’s official website, its mission is to “reduce the risk of violence and aggression through campaigning, education and support”.
Speaking on the 30th anniversary of his daughter’s tragic disappearance, Suzy’s then 85-year-old dad Paul said: “I don’t have very much hope that I will find out what happened.
“I miss Suzy more now… I think the older I get I miss her.
“I particularly remember a conversation when Diana was chiding her for doing too much and she said ‘Come on mum life is for living’.
“Suzy did know how to live life fully but no-one taught her how to be safe.”
Both of Suzy’s parents died without ever knowing what happened to their daughter.
Her mum Diana died in August 2011 while dad Paul died on June 12, 2018.