Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Wives and Knives a true crime podcast with your hosts Dani & Kelly.
Please remember that we mean no disrespect to anyone mentioned in this episode, or across any of the wives and knives platforms.
We have an interest in true crime and related topics and whilst we may offer our own personal views on certain items it is meant to be educational and as light-hearted as possible. The information we present is collated from research gathered from the internet and we reference and credit our sources wherever possible.
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Hello Everyone and welcome to this week’s episode. Before we get in it this week, we want to say our usual hello’s and thank you’s to our lovely regular listeners as well as our New listeners & followers. I know we say it every week, but we truly appreciate everyone who gives us a go and especially the ones that stay.
You may have noticed we have new artwork? Amy, one of Dani’s friends, is responsible and you can see just how talented she is. We have had it (the design) and a couple more of her designs for a while; all of which are brilliant. But it wasn’t until recently that I updated the cover art.
Yes, thank you so much Amy for doing that for us, we will put her details in the sources. She is so talented, I'm so proud of her. (Dani)
We do have a talented bunch of friends between us. – very lucky x
This week we have an Interesting one (as per uuge) It’s the case of Susannah Jane Lamplugh, Suzy Lamplugh or Suze to her friends was an estate agent reported missing on the 28th of July 1986 in Fulham, London, England.
She was officially declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994. The last clue to Suzy Lamplugh's whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she referred to as "Mr. Kipper".
The Fulham estate agent was 25 when she disappeared and would’ve turned 60, on May 3 of this year.
This is Lucy’s favourite case, (OG Member) and as it was also her birthday earlier this month so we’re dedicating it to her.
It is a fascinating case, I don’t think you need to be massively into true crime to have heard of it, especially in England.
Suzy’s case is one that has had a lot of attention, there are loads of different podcasts and programmes to devour on this case, lots of rabbit holes to bounce down. Links in the sources as per. Unfortunately, the most recent documentary is no longer available on Now tv which is a shame because it included previously unseen pictures from the family’s photo albums as well as Suzy’s personal diary entries.
Suzy Lamplugh was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire to parents Diana and Paul on the 3rd of May 1961. named after the actress Susannah York she was the second child of four. She had an Older brother Richard, and younger sisters Tamsin & Lizzie. Tamsin and Lizzie have never been ones for the limelight, but her brother Richard is regularly seen speaking on documentaries.
He seems lovely. You can tell how much he loves his sister.
he does, Suzy and her siblings were really close, they had a more than comfortable upbringing, her parents were both privately educated, dad Paul was a solicitor, and her mother Diana was a stay-at-home mum.
Diana as well as caring for the children, taught swimming and, along with a business partner, set up a nationwide organisation for health and fitness called Slimnastics, which ran classes combining exercise with healthy eating, stress control and life skills.
Diana Lamplugh was pretty amazing. She sadly died in august 2011, I’ve linked her obituary in the sources because very remarkable life.
So yes, nice upbringing, the family eventually move to the affluent area of East Sheen, near Putney and they have a nice house and a good life.
All the children have varying levels of Dyslexia, and Suzy did struggle at school, even though she had an above average IQ. In her words a troubled school life but with the help and support of her dad and a private tutor she matched her peers.
She was said to be a sporty and popular child and a helpful daughter and used to help her mum around the house, she organised family events, made the family Christmas puddings, made some of her own dresses,
bet she would have watched sewing bee, like me. (Dani)
more than likely. Richard says she wasn’t necessarily the favourite child, but she was the most responsible.
As a teenager Suzy was a member of the local church choir, and when she got older got a job as a waitress at the local sports ground.
Lizzie later said of her sister: 'She was a full-on '80s girl, always wearing the latest fashions, with beautifully done hair and full make-up. She had such a big heart too. She was my idol.'
Suzy trained as a beautician at the famous Joan Prices face place in Chelsea. And from that went on to become a Steiner beautician, at the age of 22 getting a job on the famous cruise ship, the QE2. She spent a year on the ship, travelling the world, experiencing life, and doing rich people’s makeup. Suzy describes it as a massive party, and she clearly enjoyed herself.
Good for her.
In 1984 Suzy returned to London. she’s working and she’s partying. It’s an entire scene!
Young, affluent, and going for it! I read that Suze aspired to a 'Sloaney', or yuppie lifestyle - she was a regular at trendy hangouts like the Crocodile Tears Wine Bar, which was handy for work in Fulham Road, and Tokyo Joe's Nightclub in Piccadilly.
She writes in her diary that she walks into Sturgis’ estate agents declares she wants to be a negotiator a
She noted this event in her diary and in a later almost prognostic entry, reveals “The company puts me in the window desk, as the most attractive female. That’s how it is the most attractive female on display for any man to see.”
That’s outrageous to say now but personally I don’t find it weird; I think it’s a normal perhaps glossed over common rule of business, more so in the 80’s I imagine. I do wonder though if it potentially could have highlighted her to someone.
Suzy was happy at her job in the estate agents, she was professional and a valued member of the team. it sounds like she truly was loving her life, she’s in her mid-twenties, she has her own flat at 49 Disraeli road about a mile from work. She shares the flat with a lodger, a platonic friend called Nick Bryant. Suzy has a good group of friends, who her mum calls the ‘Putney Set’ she’s dating; a lot (her words). She has a regular boyfriend called Adam Leegood but is potentially seeing other people as well, has no plans to marry; Just happy being Suzy.
Her brother says that ‘life is for living’ was one of her rules for life. The plans she has the weekend before she go’s missing, really scream 80’s privilege to me, (no shade I’m just jealous) Thursday night Adam gets back from a weeklong holiday in the Canary Islands.
On Friday she gets her hair highlighted at Studio 213 on the Fulham road, before meeting Adam in the evening to go the Mossop’s restaurant and later to Suzy’s local the prince of wales which is on the upper Richmond road, Putney. On Saturday morning she is in work at the estate agents and then later that day at 5pm, her friend Sarah picks her up because she’s at a 21st birthday party in Surrey.
on Sunday around lunch time, she leaves Sarah to go windsurfing, Adam joins her, and they plan to meet up later that evening, turns out Adam gets delayed for their date, so she nips to see her parents, taking her washing with her.
I love that for her, do you know what I mean? Like I can’t think of anything worse than windsurfing the morning after a party. But I love the idea of her overnight bag, puff ball dress and a wetsuit, she sounds like a bond girl. I just love the imagery and ambience of the 80’s. the fashion and the music.
Yes, so much I actually think the top I’m wearing now is very much an 80s vibe, both of us are rocking 80’s stuff today. We’re on theme.
Any way back to the case. So, Suzy drives back from her parents’ house on Sunday evening to her flat in Putney south west London, I’m unsure if she makes any stops on the way but she later speaks to Adam from her flat about meeting up on Tuesday night the 29th of July.
The next day, Monday 28th July 1986. is a relatively normal Monday morning according to flat mate Nick and Suzy drives to work in her company car, a small white fiesta. It takes her about fifteen minutes to get from Putney to Sturgis Estate Agents on Fulham Road and she arrives at around 8.45am. colleagues noted she was in a good mood and did a tea round for everyone.
Her workday starts with a slight panic because she had realised that she had lost her cheque book and her diary as well as some personal correspondence and she had to call the bank to stop the cheques. (unsure if this was Friday or Sunday that they were lost- her boyfriend says Friday, but her girlfriend Anita Brookner says Sunday) as there is no mention to her family about the loss, I think Sunday fits better. She is said to be preoccupied by this, as I would be. A pocketbook in the 80’s would contain the likes of your phone now; someone could use that to access all manner of stuff. Later that morning the bank called to say that the acting landlord of the local pub had found the items on the step of the pub at locking up time. She called the local pub, the Prince of Whales in Putney, and decided to collect it that evening at 6pm.
At approximately 12.30pm just before Suzy was due to leave the office, she called the pub again and spoke to Julie the landlord’s partner. At approx. 12.35/40 Suzy left the office to make her next appointment to show a house, her work diary or desk diary clarified a booking for 12.45 that day an appointment with a Mr. Kipper at 37 Shorrolds road. o/s is noted next to the appointment indicating to meet outside the property.
When Suzy doesn’t return to work, her colleagues notice, it was out of character for her, she’s worked there for over a year now, they know her. She has left her bag at the office, taking only her purse and car keys -signalling she is going to return. They check up on the appointment and find there is no Mr. Kipper or anything officially corresponding to a Mr. Kipper, Suzy is a professional, she’s diligent and a valued member of the team all her other clients are officially recorded in the office system; there is nothing for a client called Mr. Kipper.
so all her other clients are legit?
Yeah
I get why there may not be a full file on the guy, but you’d expect a note with his number, or something scribbled on her desk. Like now there’d be an email trail or chat on teams etc. back then I feel there would have been a post it or two knocking around.
yeah, I would think so too. It’s also worth noting that Suzy didn’t take any other keys with her, so she didn’t take the keys for 37 Shorrolds road.
What? So which keys did she have with her then?
By 3.pm her colleagues are very concerned and so her boss Mark Gurdon decide to call her parents, to ask if they had heard from Suzy, they explain the situation -Suzy hasn’t returned from showing a house. The parents start to call her siblings, they call Richard, and they call her friends. No one has seen her or heard from her. They do everything right, call the hospitals etc. as well and then they contact the police; and it is quickly taken seriously.
Suzy Lamplugh is officially a missing person.
Mixed feelings around the police on this case, but right now, at this time I think they handled It well. Detective Sergeant Carter is originally in charge and immediately start to set up a team and coordinate a response, a grid search of the area where she was last seen is conducted. They are focusing on looking for Suzy’s car, the white ford fiesta.
Detective Constable Mick Jones went to Suzy’s flat to check it out, nothing untoward or that gave them concern.
The family advise the police that Suzy had no enemies to speak of no angry or dodgy boyfriends that caused them concern, they couldn’t provide a suspect that they knew of because there wasn’t an obvious one. Diana did give the police names and alerted police to investigate certain people she knew of in Suzy's life, but each was innocent of any involvement in her disappearance.
That night her parents went out to try and find their daughter – they walked with their dog down the Fulham side of the river. They didn’t find anything.
I’d want to do similar, just to feel I was doing something rather than just breaking down and feeling helpless.
it’s so sad isn’t it. I can’t even begin to imagine how that must feel.
Heart-breaking. At around 10pm the missing car is found by the police. It is parked on Stevenage road which isn’t far away from Shorrolds road. When I say it’s not far, you could walk there in approx. five minutes. The car is parked slightly askew and partially blocking the entrance to a private garage. More intriguing is that the driver’s door is unlocked but the passenger door is locked, and the handbrake is off. There are items belonging to Suzy inside the car, her Credit cards and purse are in the glove compartment, but the Keys are missing.
Is there blood or anything like that?
No, from first glance it’s clean, as in no signs of a struggle and even when it is later forensically searched there’s nothing of note. The expected fingerprints are there but no others and no DNA.
They could have worn gloves! I’m assuming that was checked too - Regardless, Major red flags though.
Oh yeah, the driver’s seat is set back as well, so Suzy who was 5,6 wouldn’t have been able to drive it in the position it was in.
The following day, 29th July, there was an article in the London Evening Standard headed “Kidnap fears for estate agent’s girl”. Scotland Yard reported there was grave concern for her safety.
The police interview people and appeal for witnesses, especially around the area she was last thought to be and where the car was found. Their main focus of attention is around her last appointment with Mr. Kipper.
And witnesses come forward, three in particular who all confirm seeing Suzy on Shorrolds road. The man who lives next door to the house that was being shown there, reports seeing a blonde woman matching Suzy’s description stood outside the property at 1.00pm when she was approached by a man. He described the man as being between 5.8/5.9 smartly dressed and with dark hair. There is mention of his carrying a bottle of champagne with a ribbon around it. This is a crucial sighting, and also places Suzy at her recorded diary appointment. Moments later they were seen walking away from the house together. Witnesses were puzzled however as the woman's hair appeared lighter in colour than the pictures of Suzy's. The fact that the witnesses mentioned the lighter hair shade added weight to the notion that they had actually seen Suzy because we know she’d just had it done.
There were also witnesses to other odd things in Shorrolds Road too, including a double-parked white Ford Fiesta, and another white Ford Fiesta parked nearby with, perhaps, somebody inside it, an old dark blue BMW, and one witness reported a dark saloon car not long after 1pm, with two men inside, sitting motionless, unspeaking, staring directly ahead...
But another witnesses the police deemed credible confirmed Suzy’s car was parked on Stevenage road at approximately 12.40 and 12.45 and remained there until it was found by the police. If it had been there shortly after Suzy left Sturgis, that would leave no time for her to go to Shorrolds Road.
A woman reported seeing a man and woman in the road - the man was smartly dressed, and the woman again fitted the description of Suzy.
So what’s the timeline or scenario here? Why’s her car parked elsewhere with the seat set back? It implies to me that she couldn’t have been the last to drive it.
Yeah, there are a few things that I find strange around this. So, I read that she potentially parked on Stevenage road because Shorrolds road was busier, and it was harder to park there. That makes sense but it isn’t the closest road to Shorrolds, and it doesn’t seem an obvious choice. If she did park there originally then I’d expect her car to be locked up; she’s planning on going back to it to get back to work.
The car’s position and state make me think that it had been at least moved by someone else or like you said had been driven by someone else. If she had been abducted initially from her car then why the sighting at Shorrolds road? The police agree that she was at Shorrolds road for the viewing as arranged.
So, how I see it, if you accept, she attends the viewing. She parks up on Stevenage road, walks to the viewing on Shorrolds road and then meets the guy, Mr. kipper. Perhaps something isn’t right, she suspects he’s a wrong un, and she makes her excuses and heads back to the car? Does he then follow-on foot or more likely in his own car (whatever the make, model, or colour – you decide) and then he catches her up as she’s just pulling her car out of its space?
But what then makes her get out of the car? I’d only do that if I had no reason not too or I was forced.
yeah, it needs to be quick enough that she doesn’t have time to make a notable fuss and serious enough that she does it without question.
Yeah, so he pulls a weapon. A knife or a gun? She gets out of the car with the gun still on her, he quickly moves her car back onto the side of the road and then pocketing the keys signals her into his car.
Two workmen laying pipes nearby in Stevenage Road had noticed nothing unusual during the day - no raised voices, nothing at all. Same for the woman who lived in the house opposite from where the car was parked.
yeah, I feel like they got lucky no one witnessed that. For me it raises the question, if it were someone, she knew even vaguely that could mean she would be less likely to scream or resist at least at first – could she have been tricked – I guess it’s one of those situations that you just don’t know how you would react.
unfortunately despite the leads and the witnesses Suzy wasn’t found. The press picked up the case, Wednesday 30th July was Diana’s 50th birthday and the Lamplugh’s’ home in south-west London was surrounded by journalists. Diana welcomed the media as a way of keeping the spotlight on Suzy. Sadly, the efforts of both the family and the police proved fruitless and in early august a week after Suzy disappeared Diana confided on the BBC’s London Plus that she was beginning to realise that her daughter might be dead. “I can face up to the fact that she has died. But I cannot face up to what has happened between. That’s too much.”
By the end of August, the police had had over 700 calls from the public about this case, and over a hundred of them believed they had seen Suzy on the day she had disappeared. Her case was featured on Crime Watch with a reconstruction that prompted further calls and sightings.
One of Suzy’s friends Barbara Whitfield. said that she had seen Suzy driving a white car, more than likely hers but it could have been a similar model, at some time between 2.30 & 2.45 on the main Fulham palace road. She said that she waved at Suzy, but she was talking to the passenger, a man who she didn’t really remember clearly enough to give a description. Could she have seen her? Suzy’s car is confirmed by police as being on Stevenage road at 2.40 pm and stayed there until it was found.
Maybe she got the days mixed up?
Maybe. she came forward with the information a week after she went missing, she was the only witness who knew her personally, she was certain. And I find her credible, but that’s me.
There are more leads that need mentioning too. And I also want to add that it seems that some probable sightings which came to the fore years later were not followed up, despite some of them being reported at the time.
A van driver said he had to swerve and hit the kerb to avoid a white Ford Fiesta flying towards him. He reported seeing a 'striking blonde' at the wheel, arguing with a man in a suit.
And there was another sighting of an alleged Suzy, it seemed that she might have been seen in Bishops Park with a man - lying on the grass with a bottle of champagne.
A jogger who was leaving the same park at around 1.50pm came forward to say that he had seen a blonde woman apparently arguing with a man in a dark-coloured BMW, constantly sounding its horn. He said the woman had stared at him as they passed. This park is on Stevenage road.
Despite the police checking leads, the Crimewatch reconstruction, extensive media coverage and the families’ efforts. There was still no clear explanation as to Suzy’s fate.
Famous Mediums like Doris Stokes & criminologists, amateur crime buffs came up with lots of theories. (and still are)
Yuri bloody Gellar turned up at the Lamplugh’s home and bent a spoon for them. In fact, there were that many of them they eventually held a convention for them at Hammersmith palais.
Jesus Christ, you can believe what you want but for me that’s questionable to be polite.
It just speaks to how big the case was, everyone wanted to help. Not sure what a bent spoon was meant to achieve but apparently it had pride of place on the Lamplugh mantel until it was stolen years later.
Suzy’s case had a massive impact in London and the country as a whole, people were scared. Suzy was a respectable girl who had disappeared in broad daylight.
Women’s personal security alarms sold out in the shops of London.
6 months after the Suzy’s disappearance a blue BMW was reported as not being moved – this was relevant because it matched the description of a car seen in Stevenage road. The car was registered to a Belgium national called Mr. Kiper a diamond dealer. The police tried to track down Mr. Kiper and even went to Belgium to talk to him, he had an airtight alibi for the time Suzy had gone missing.
One of the detectives Mick Jones who was a DC working on the case later said that Suzy had known someone called either Mr skipper or kipper but that they had been out of the country, I’m assuming they are the same person; honestly though I struggled to confirm.
And unfortunately, that would appear to be that. All leads have apparently been followed up on but there’s no trace of Suzy just lots of unanswered questions. The family haven’t given up and focus their energies on starting up the Suzy Lamplugh trust. The investigation had raised things that could have potentially been prevented and they sought to change that particularly around lone working. I’ll talk about the trust in more detail later.
On Sunday March 1st, 1987, the family gather to celebrate Suzy’s life in a Memorial service at the church where her father was a warden and she had been in the choir.
By October 1987, the full-time investigation changed to non-active but open, effectively closed down.
The family continue to speak to the media, Diana is accused of courting them somewhat, but I think she’s channelling her energy for good overall. The Lamplugh’s support a book being published in 1988, the Suzy Lamplugh story by Andrew Stephen. All the information provided for the book was supplied by the police and the Lamplugh family. I want to put that into context for you because I think it is important. The information within the book is manually taken from the original investigation 1986-8 by an impartial source.
This book is out of print and difficult to get hold of (cheapest one I could find was 120 squid) which is a shame as there is NO predisposition within the book re- any specific perpetrator.
The book raised some interesting theories, some which perhaps the family weren’t ready for. Suzy’s friends talked about how she had confided in them about a relationship with a rich married or soon to be married man. But I’ve read elsewhere that that was in 1984 not relevant to 1986.
Suzy is said to have been secretive about her romantic life at times, which I don’t think is suspicious in itself.
Suzy talks to friends about a large commission she’s due, about 3 grand and mentions that she’s going to buy a property in a joint deal with someone, her father later adds that Suzy was looking at property that seemed to be beyond her means.
Suzy’s two bedroomed flat is on the market for just under 74,000 and so far, there had been two unsuccessful attempts to sell it.
Another friend also advised that her and Suzy were planning on going into business together and that she had asked her to meet for lunch on the day she went missing. They were planning on doing some sort of healthy life plan. Her friend who was a nanny at the time, couldn’t make it unfortunately.
I wonder if there was ever a real appointment. Suzy’s professional and everything but she’s lost her stuff, possibly stressed out and so books in an appointment which gives her an extended lunch to sort it out? What if there was no Mr kipper? It’s said it had been put in a few days earlier, but I mean it still doesn’t mean it’s a real appointment.
Right, we’re going to move on to who a lot of people believe Suzy may have met that day.
the police do get criticised about the early investigation of the crime, particularly when it is discovered that at around ten months into the enquiry, Malcolm Hackett, who had taken over the case in early 1987 had been given a name by a colleague in Reading. This person of interest had been caught for a rape of a woman at knife point, he had threatened the woman in her car. The officer informed Hackett that he thought he could be of interest. Hackett disagreed but did interview him and then further decided he wasn’t involved. This man was John Cannan.
This wasn’t the first time his name had come up either, back in the early stages of the investigation the police had checked out local sex offenders or anyone with an even slight capability or form for the crime, John Cannan had come up then due to him being a rapist but had been quickly dismissed.
So let’s talk about him,
John Cannan was born 20 February 1954 brought up in Sutton Coldfield with another brother by a respectable middle-class family, His father was an engineer with his own business and his mother was a stay-at-home mum. He had the best possible start in life, he went to private school and didn’t want for anything in particular.
This piece of shit starts his criminal career pretty early when he was just 14. In 1968 he indecently assaulted a woman in a telephone box in Erdington. He only got probation but went on to join the Merchant Navy aged 17 before later leaving and becoming a car salesman at his dads’ company, until later setting up on his own. In 1981 he assaulted Daphne Sargent, who he was in a relationship with. She had wanted to end their relationship.
Later that year he robbed a petrol station and then a clothes shop, in the knitwear shop he tied up the shop assistants’ mother and after threatening to stab her baby brutally raped the store assistant at knifepoint. Between 1979 & 1981, there was a series of rapes across the West Midlands, known as the "House for sale "rapes which ceased once Cannan was incarcerated. He was jailed for eight years in June 1981, but only served five of that.
Which brings us to 1986, he spent most of his sentence at Hmp Bristol but was transferred to London, serving out the remainder of his time on day release from a hostel at wormwood scrubs.
At this time, Cannan is alleged to have been working during the day at a props company and shimmying out of the hostel window of an evening to enjoy the night life of the local area. It is implied that he did frequent spots around the Fulham area and did have access to a BMW.
Cannan was officially released from the hostel the Friday before Suzy went missing.
wow, I mean that’s a lot. Connections wise. And why are they letting him out and about? A violent rapist isn’t someone I would want out and about.
I heard one of the detectives in a documentary complain about the same, but I wonder if it’s again proof of what an effective manipulator Cannan clearly is. Police say that Cannan's modus operandi was to pretend to be a West Country businessman. He would ply women with chocolates and flowers, courts them, is smooth and is romantic. then when the women rejected him, he attacks.
is there anything to suggest that Suzy had met Cannan before or had had any interactions with him?
nothing concrete, there were rumour’s Cannan may have briefly dated Suzy and killed her when she tried to end the relationship. I think I touched on Suzy potentially having a new flirtation in her life, prior to her disappearance, it seems plausible that she could have bumped into him, I can accept that.
But even if he didn’t have an actual flirtation or meeting with him, he could have seen her in the window of the estate agents?
She fits his type. And he is effective at his play, he is said to have had an affair with a solicitor in 1986, (when on day release) where again he threatened her when it ended. So, like he can convince people he isn’t a sexual predator.
There are some theories and some evidence to support the idea that Cannan could have met Suzy before her disappearance as well.
The Lamplugh’s told the police that they thought that Suzy had a new boyfriend who had apparently come from the Bristol or west country area, she had also told a friend that she had started to become worried or scared by said boyfriend. But this only seems to be raised later in the story. Even in a recent documentary I watched, Suzy’s uncle, mark Howell says that she confided in him about a boyfriend that was scaring her There's no mention of it in the book, and the detectives disagree too, one thinks not the other remembers mention early on.
And Cannan has form in terms of estate agents and house sales too, a witness confirms that they saw him staring into the window of the estate agents, and Cannan had also once seen a house for sale, knocked on and after speaking to the female homeowner had gained entry, he didn’t realise that her husband was in the house and when he discovered that beat a hasty retreat. If he was the House for sale rapist as well…
in October 1986 Only ten weeks after his release from prison, Cannan raped a woman at knifepoint in Reading, Berkshire, Cannan had been arrested for this offence earlier but he gave an alibi that he was in Sutton Coldfield at the time of the attack, and the forensic evidence was not strong enough to charge him so again he was free.
There was also the matter of two bunches of flowers - one delivered to the Sturgis branch and one to Suzy's flat, both for Suzy, but both anonymous, not long before she disappeared. There’d been phone calls to the flat and the office which were confirmed by her flat mate Nick and colleagues alike. Suzy never revealed who they were from and I’m led to believe that this had happened in the run up to her disappearance as well.
There is a dating video that comes out, it was made 14 months after her disappearance for a dating agency. In it Cannan poses as a rich suitor.
I have a vague memory of these – I was a child in the eighties, but I remember late eighties the older sister of a childhood friend having one of these tapes,
Anyway, Cannan on this video – oh what a twat! He’s such a prick he’s like trying to impress but is failing, using the wrong words. It shows how he could potentially fool someone into thinking he’s a reputable businessman. The interviewer is sold.
so he’s clearly plotting, planning, escalating from when he was in prison to immediately after he leaves prison and so on.
In October 1987, Cannan tried to abduct 30-year-old Bristol businesswoman Julia Holman from a car park at around 6.50 pm at gunpoint, but she fought back, acted quickly, pushed him off and managed to get away him off and later identified him as her attacker. The police are looking for him now.
The next night the 8th of October 1987 he abducts Shirley Banks.
The 30-year-old had been on an evening shopping trip to Bristol when she vanished. She had been shopping in Debenhams and a sales receipt for a dress placed her in the store at 7.26 pm She did not return home, so her husband searched bars and any of her haunts, but nobody had seen her. The next morning, he phoned her work who said that she had phoned in saying she was sick.
Shirley's body was only found on Easter Day in 1988 in the Quantock hills in Somerset. it had been dumped in a ditch called Dead Woman's Ditch. She had been missing for 6 months and was badly decomposed. Her thumb print is intact, and they find jewellery and buttons from her dress at the scene.
At the autopsy, it was determined that Shirley Banks had been bludgeoned to death, and her skull smashed like an eggshell more than likely with a rock.
The police are looking for Cannan for rapes a plenty, and he is showing no signs of slowing down. On the 29th of October 1987 He’s mid scoping out a shop to rob when he is busted, he’s cut his hand and was running away, and the police get him. I’ve read it was a petrol station that he tried to rob; they did find items in his car that led them to believe he was prepared for another attack. They also find something quite interesting, in a briefcase inside the car is the tax disc for Shirley Banks` car.
Her Mini Clubman car was found in the garage of the block of flats where he lived. It had been resprayed and a new number plate affixed. Cannan claimed he had bought the car from a guy he’d met.
He was bailed from Warwick Police Station, but he was then arrested by Bristol Police over Shirley Banks’ murder.
Cannan insists he has nothing to do with the disappearance. However, there are witnesses that practically see/hear the murder itself and a fingerprint in his flat. Neighbours saw him cleaning his car out vigorously. they have him bang to rights.
are we going to discuss the reg plate now?
opportune time – So the number plate that john cannan had changed on Shirley’s car was changed to SLP 386S – conspeery theory is that that relates to Suzy’s name and the year of her disappearance. The three is for the number of victims and one of the police officers even says that the numbers are close to the coordinates of the Morton barracks, which I will cover shortly.
Interesting point also, when asked later about the number plate he apparently says that the man he bought the car off killed Shirley and Suzy, but quickly recants.
He does seem like the type of person to be cocky enough to do something like that, it wasn’t one he found he had it made with that reg specifically. Interesting.
if this is all a coincidence it’s wild and yeah strange things do happen, but I’d put money on him being the perpetrator.
John Cannan is also a key suspect in the murder of 25-year-old Bournemouth insurance clerk Sandra Court. Her body was found in a water-filled ditch on the Avon Causeway in May 1986. I did read about another case he could be linked to too., Melanie Hall a young woman from Bath whose body was not discovered for thirteen years, but it’s a different and nothing has been positively proven. It could be something we look at separately.
Back to Shirley and Suzy though, the media release the images of the car and the number plate. Suzy’s Parents are convinced there’s a connection. Look I mean no disrespect here at all, but I have to point out that this is where we seem to get the sudden mention of the alleged secret boyfriend or new scary love interest. Diana says herself that a number of Suzy’s friends told her that Suzy was seeing someone before she went missing. They were from Bristol. I get why she would think that there was a connection, but I do wonder if this perhaps fuels the cannan narrative. And I’m not saying that’s wrong, I think he is a viable suspect.
Cannan’s alleged nickname in prison was Kipper and he reportedly bore a striking resemblance to an e-fit of her abductor; I know that the police officer in charge of Suzy’s case at this time didn’t get along with Diana Lamplugh.
Diana was a force to be reckoned with, and her own kids say she was very focused at times on her specific aims. An example of this, Diana was so convinced that Suzy was on Stevenage road that she went tooled up and with some cash for bribes to find her. A caretaker at a block of luxury flats drained the water tanks looking for her but she wasn’t found. Not sure why – like what led her there? She didn’t find anything, but she was as assertive when it came to leads on Cannan too.
on 28 April 1989 after ten hours the jury reached a guilty verdict on the charges, of Shirley’s murder and the judge Exeter crown court told Cannan: "You are extremely attractive to some women. But under that there lies a most evil violence and horrible side to your character." He’s given three life sentences, a whole life tariff.
Despite not getting on with the family, Peter Johnstone and the team do look into Cannan and Suzy, they realise/accept that cannan was in the same area at the time of Suzy’s disappearance. They interview him several times, the first time April 1989.
The police who are working on Shirley’s case find that Cannan has the means and motives, but the police didn’t find anything to indicate a connection to Suzy in their investigation.
In 1990, officers went back to speak with John Cannan about a possible connection with Suzy’s case, he doesn’t have an alibi for the time of her disappearance and he’s a good suspect. They interview him three times in total regarding Suze, but again Detective inspector Peter Johnstone agreed there was nothing solid enough, no direct evidence pointing to a connection with her and so again he was eliminated.
August 1992 Police say a young woman's body found in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, it isn't Suzy.
that must be awful, not knowing every time a body is found.
Yeah, and Suzy is officially declared dead in February 1994.
In December 1994 Claims by Michael Sams, serving life for murder and kidnap, that he killed Lamplugh are dismissed by the family as a "sick hoax”.
Michael Sams is a kidnapper, extortionist, rapist, and murderer, he kidnapped and murdered Julie dart and then later kidnapped Stephanie slater in 1992. He’s an absolute piece of work that I’m planning on covering later this year.
totally, fucking scum. And another piece of shit who is often touted as a suspect is.
Suspect Steve Wright
In 1982, Suzy worked as a beautician on the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2.
At the same time, Steve Wright was working as a steward.
He was convicted in February 2008 of murdering five prostitutes in Ipswich.
The Metropolitan Police investigated him at the time for Suzy’s disappearance.
However, a senior Met police officer described the link as “speculative”.
There are loads of rabbit holes to go down in terms of suspects and theories, I think there’s a Jill Dando one, I’m not convinced.
Steven Wright had a completely different MO, sex workers are usually chosen because they are seen as vulnerable plus, he would have been in his early 30’s back then but the crimes we know of didn’t start until his late 40s. Isn’t it sick that there’s a whole host of possibilities?
Anyway, were gonna fast forward.
Fourteen years after the initial investigation began into Suzy’s disappearance in December 1999, the met police pushed to solve the case once more, Possible prompted by One of John Cannans ex-girlfriends says that she remembers a comment he made about Suzy.
And Diana Lamplugh is told that her daughter's body could be at an abandoned army barracks at Norton, Worcestershire.
They complete a review of the case – the review finds a lot. they find flaws in the investigation and in May 2000 with Jim Dickey in the lead they decide to look back into it and the original files.
because of the failings of the previous investigation
definite admitted failings, but not all the police officers involved in the case agree. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence in this case or almost tentative links. The investigative failings were partly due to policing systems. They were in an analogue age, and everything was on paper. There were old-fashioned card index systems for evidence-gathering. And the sheer weight of information that they had, now we have all sorts of technology, computer systems, number plate recognition, CCTV. It would be different today.
And that’s what they do, they put everything into a computer database – all the original reference cards etc. they find Some evidence was missing, incomplete etc. leads hadn’t been followed up on. There was no line up done in the original investigation, lots of issues.
They took DNA from the family to get a full profile for Suzy and checked against any unidentified Jane Doe’s in the system, none match. I think they checked over 800 profiles.
So sad that there are that many people unidentified.
New witnesses did come forward – A jogger – he says he reported it originally to a mobile police suite. He’s the one from the Park I believe, and he confirms that it is John cannan who he saw with a blonde woman, likely Suzy. In the BMW car. So, they place him in the area and with the right car to match the witnesses, new & old.
The new investigative team looked at everything, there were other suspects in this re investigation however they ruled them all out. They keep coming back to John Cannan.
They follow every lead, interview everyone they can. A lot of time and money is spent on this re investigation. They check out Norton barracks, but they don’t find anything, they do a reconstruction.
In December 2000, after the alleged discovery of the DNA, Cannan was arrested again for her murder and questioned, but was not charged. The only evidence disclosed by police is circumstantial which is the reason given as to why the CPS won’t take it further. Even the circumstantial evidence is compelling. and they continue to search for Suzy’s body in areas relating to John Cannan. So, they searched the barracks area and also another area close to a river as they had some intelligence. They used the RAF to take photographs of the areas, nothing was found at any of the locations.
Two years later, in 2002 detectives said publicly that they believe John Cannan killed Suzy and confirmed this again in 2006 when arguing against any reduction in his tariff.
Cannan subsequently complained via his solicitors about the police publicly naming him, saying he was "devastated and distressed".
Again, there’s video of him, postulating and complaining, he’s a prick.
It’s in 2002 as well that the Metropolitan police apologises for "significant opportunities ... missed during the original inquiry".
Jim dickey who had led the reinvestigation retired in 2006, worked on the review case until that time.
In 2008 the team investigate the Steve wright connection who we mentioned earlier in terms of other suspects. Then there’s not much more movement on the case and in this documentary, I watched the one I mentioned at the beginning of the case, you can tell how worn the detectives are and frustrated with it all. Maybe they do have more evidence than has been released to the public and that is why they don’t appear to consider other suspects put forward.
In 2010, the police receive a tip off taking them back to Norton Barracks, this is when they do more searches with ground penetrating radar. Unfortunately, they are stuck because the area is built up now and to do a full excavation of the area would mean pulling down entire housing estates.
In 2018, a fellow prisoner later came forward to claim Cannan had buried the body of Suzy under the patio of his mother's former house in Sutton Coldfield.
A search of the Shipton Road property in 2018 revealed nothing.
In 2019 a new witness came forward, with another report that had been apparently ignored three times by the police in the original investigation.
The new witness is a woman who said that her friend Dave, a lorry driver had repeatedly approached police to tell them he’d seen a man struggling with a large piece of luggage along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal a few days after Suzy disappeared. It was 5am and struck him as mega odd.
Dave reported it at the time, at Brentwood Police station; but felt the police disregarded him – there is no record of the statement when it was made originally. He is said to have gone to the police on 2 more separate occasions.
Later, when John Cannan was charged with Shirley’s murder and then when Cannan was publicly linked to Suzy’s case. Dave recognised the man as the one he had seen that day back in 1986.
Sadly, Dave died, 6 years ago so it’s only his friend – I want to say Anne, who can tell his version of events. I’ve read that the account is very detailed and considered credible.
It does raise the question of where Suzy was until then? Did he have access to somewhere he could keep such a high-profile victim. Assuming that’s what happened.
This is defiantly one of those cases that everyone knows about, it’s a staple of UK true crime and its heart breaking that there’s never been evidence solid enough to close the case, personally I don’t think we will ever know for sure what happened because the man who did it is already behind bars...
I think Cannan is a solid prospect, as the police do also. The review found that one of the police officers had been prejudiced about making him a suspect due to pressure from the family, namely Diana. So, he kept disregarding him because she was pushing to make him the suspect. There’s another conversation there about getting involved in an investigation but I can see why the majority of people think he is the guy that took Suzy. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest so. I find the new information interesting as well, A common feature in Shirley and Sandra’s murders is that their bodies were deposited in water. And I do wonder if the police are planning on dredging the area fully, I read somewhere that they don’t do that, they just check small sections.
I very much doubt that John Cannan will ever confess, even when there is DNA evidence against him, he denies shit. He denied the rape he committed a few months after Suzy went missing.
I do wonder if there is the possibility of a completely separate stalker element too though, Suzy’s friend who says she saw her in the car arguing, if she got her days mixed up who was the guy and why didn’t he come forward? There are loads of questions that remain unanswered, I’m trying to think if I’ve missed anything…
Oh yes, so I tried to find out about the landlord, so I read that he wasn’t the usual landlord, but he’d been there a while. I wonder if there was more to the pub and the pocketbook. So there was a couple of phone calls at the pub, this was discovered in the reinvestigation, I think. They found out that a woman called Sarah and a man claiming to be a police officer had also called about Suzy’s pocketbook. Sarah could have been a friend but surely, she’d have said but the police officer. Was that someone sussing out where she was going to be? Is it a red herring?
Let us know what you all think!
the possibility of it being someone else entirely is haunting - because – yes let us know.
I said I was going to mention the Trust, but Dani I’ve talked a lot this episode; do you fancy.
Instead of privately grieving, her mother Diana channelled her energies into campaigning. Paul and Diana Lamplugh established the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in December 1986, with the aim of raising awareness of personal safety and reducing the risk of aggression and violence. The trusts impact on anti-stalking and anti-harassment legislation, as well as the licensing of minicabs, has been considerable.
Her parents were both awarded an OBE for their charitable services. Sadly, Diana Lamplugh passed away in August 2011 aged 75, and Paul Lamplugh passed away aged 87 in June 2018.
The charity continues to do positive work – and the family’s nobility in the face of their suffering and loss shines through. What Diana amazingly was turning this tragedy into something that’s had such a positive impact on so many individual’ lives.
Well, that’s pretty much everything, as always do your own research if you wish, but I think that’s a pretty balanced report.
What I would like to end this episode with is that John Cannan is due for release next year, he’s 67 at present, as far as is reported he is fit and well.
His ex-girlfriends are rightly terrified as they helped to convict him. I’m not saying that he will go out and attack them physically, but I would have concerns about him contacting them and threatening them in other ways.
67 isn’t that old maybe another 20 years of life left.
yeah, I mean it depends on the person, but I know 67-year-old who could overpower me physically, don’t underestimate people due to their age full stop, but I wouldn’t underestimate Jc in that respect.
Oprah Winfrey is 67, John Travolta, Catherine O’Hara, Katey Sagal, Jackie Chan. I bet Jackie Chan can kick loads of ass in his elder years, I would watch that if it’s not already been made.
Best leave it there, it’s just more inane waffle for me to edit out.
well super fascinating case, we hope you’ve enjoyed it. We are back next week with a mini case.
Yep, should be anniversaries/ updates we’ll see what happens. But until then, thank you for listening and look after yourselves out there.
Yeah, stay safe, come join us on the socials and see you soon.
Bye, xx
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