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Suzy Lamplugh - 33 years since she went missing

291 replies

MarathonMo · 30/07/2019 14:14

33 years since she went missing and all evidence seemed to point to John Canaan as the man responsible.

David Videcette states he has compelling evidence that Canaan wasn't responsible & claims he now has the proof after a 3 year private investigation.

He believes the 'Mr Kipper' appointment was a red herring and Suzy left the office to go on a personal errand (?). Allegedly, the police missed a lot in their initial investigations.

He claims the police focused on the wrong man as they did in the Rachel Nickell case (Colin Stagg).

Perhaps one day this will be solved and her family will get closure.

new twist?

OP posts:
x2boys · 30/07/2019 14:22

Gosh ,33 years I can't read the article as I don't really want to subscribe could you summerise?

IAskTooManyQuestions · 30/07/2019 15:20

YABU to link a pay-per-view article

DGRossetti · 30/07/2019 15:28

I know it's just a different shit rag, but Daily Mail covered it

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7173957/Ex-detective-claims-Suzy-Lamplugh-WASNT-way-meet-Mr-Kipper-day-disappeared.html

Ex detective claims Suzy Lamplugh didn't meet 'Mr Kipper'
By Ed Riley For Mailonline
8-10 minutes

A former detective claims missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh (pictured) wasn't on her way to meet 'Mr Kipper' on the day she disappeared

A former detective claims missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh faked her appointment with 'Mr Kipper' on the day she disappeared.

Ex Scotland Yard investigator David Videcette says he has unearthed 'compelling evidence' to suggest the case was flawed from the start and believes she invented the meeting to cover her tracks with her bosses.

Miss Lamplugh, 25, vanished in July 1986 after apparently arranging to show a client around a house that was for sale in Fulham, west London.

In her office diary she recorded details of a lunchtime appointment with 'Mr Kipper' at a property in Shorrolds Road.

But former detective Mr Videcette, who has spent three years investigating the case, believes she never actually visited Shorrolds Road.

He is convinced Miss Lamplugh faked the appointment as she left the office unattended to go on a personal errand in work time.

Mr Videcette, who worked on the London 7/7 terror investigation, says the police focus on Mr Kipper caused them to miss vital evidence.

In 2002, the Met Police named convicted rapist and killer John Cannan as the key suspect. He bore a striking resemblance to an e-fit of a man last seen with Miss Lamplugh on the day she vanished.

The police probe centred on identifying Mr Kipper (left, an efit of the man last seen with Miss Lamplugh on the day she vanished). In 2002, the Met Police named convicted rapist and killer John Cannan (right) as the key suspect

Last November they even began digging up Cannan's late mother's garden (pictured) in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, but found nothing.

Last November they even began digging up Cannan's late mother's garden in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, but found nothing.

Cannan, 64, serving three life sentences for murder and a series of sex attacks, has denied any involvement.

But in a statement today Mr Videcette said: 'I do not believe John Cannan is involved in either Suzy’s disappearance or what I suspect was her subsequent murder.'

Mr Videcette, now a freelance investigator, told the Daily Telegraph: 'It was clear that the accepted narrative was that Suzy had met her fate after meeting Mr Kipper at Shorrolds Road.

'Unfortunately, that version of events became the accepted narrative and anything that did not fit with it was discounted by the original investigating team.

Miss Lamplugh was officially declared dead in 1994. Her bereft parents Paul and Diana (pictured) died never knowing what happened to her

Suzy Lamplugh (pictured) was declared dead, presumed murdered, after going missing in 1986. John Cannan was named by police as their prime suspect in 2002. The garden of his mother's former home was searched last November

'By 2002 the investigation was entirely focused on finding evidence to prove that John Cannan was Mr Kipper. But the more I looked into it, the more I became convinced that something vital had been missed.

'There is compelling evidence that has convinced me the infamous appointment at Shorrolds Road at 12.45pm on July 28 1986 never took place.

'It is my firm view that Suzy put the Mr Kipper entry in her diary because she had to nip out to meet somebody else and she wasn't supposed to leave the office unattended.

'I believe the answer to this mystery lies in another appointment that Suzy did keep, but that has never been explored.'

Freelance investigator and former Scotland Yard detective David Videcette says he has unearthed 'compelling evidence' to suggest the case was flawed from the start

Miss Lamplugh was officially declared dead in 1994. Her bereft parents Paul and Diana died never knowing what happened to her.

One of the main reasons police were convinced Miss Lamplugh had met with Mr Kipper was that a witness living in Shorrolds Road claimed to have seen a man and woman standing outside around the time of the appointment.

Harry Riglin, who has since died, gave detectives a detailed description of the man that led to a photofit being produced and circulated.

Mr Videcette says he has tracked down Mr Riglin's nephew who said his uncle had never really been clear that the woman was Miss Lamplugh.

Another key piece of evidence he claims was overlooked at the time includes the existence of the keys to the Shorrolds Road property.

Mr Videcette claims the estate agency had one set of keys to the property and these were recovered from the office by the police.

He added to the Telegraph: 'I imagine police at the time just assumed there was a second set of keys that Suzy had with her, which were never found.

'But I tracked down several employees and the original owner of the agency, all of whom said if there had been a second set of keys they would have been on the same key ring.

'Suzy didn't have the keys with her as she never intended on conducting the viewing at Shorrolds Road.'

Mr Videcette is due to meet Scotland Yard detectives today to present his evidence and is confident the killer could soon be caught.

In a statement on his website, he said: 'I can confirm that I am assisting the Metropolitan Police’s Murder Review Group with information relating to the 1986 disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

'I have spoken to the Lamplugh family to make them aware of these developments.

'Over the past three years, I have been investigating the case in a self-funded capacity.

'I first made contact with the Metropolitan Police in the summer of 2018 to advise I was working on the case.

'My findings have led me to uncover an entirely different narrative to the one presented by the police, which I am now providing to the Met along with the evidence to support it.

'The information I have uncovered does not relate to John Cannan. I was not the source for the Met police’s dig in Sutton Coldfield back in November 2018.

'I do not believe John Cannan is involved in either Suzy’s disappearance or what I suspect was her subsequent murder. I cannot comment further at this time.'

On his website, Mr Videcette says he has worked on 'a wealth of famous cases.' and 'chased down numerous dangerous criminals, searched hundreds of properties, placed bugs on scores of vehicles, and interviewed thousands of witnesses.'

It adds: 'With twenty years' policing experience, including counter-terror operations and organised crime, David was a lead detective on the 7/7 London bombings investigation.

'He has been awarded several police commendations, including one for outstanding detective work and perseverance which led to his discovery of a 7/7 bomb factory during Operation Theseus.'
Suzy Lamplugh: Timeline of one of the UK's most notorious cold cases

Suzy Lamplugh went missing in July 1986

March 1981: Cannan robs a knitwear shop at knifepoint and ties up a woman inside and rapes her.

July 25 1986: He is given day release from Wormwood Scrubs after serving five years for the rape.

July 28, 1986: Suzy Lamplugh, 25, disappears after leaving her office to show a man known only as 'Mr Kipper' around a house in Fulham, west London.

October 7 1986: Cannan rapes a woman at knifepoint in Reading. Later that day he tries to abduct a woman in Bristol with a gun.

October 8, 1987: Murder victim Shirley Banks failed to meet her husband Richard for a drink as planned and her car is missing. Six months later Shirley's naked body was discovered decomposed in the Quantock Hills in an area known as Dead Woman's Ditch.

October 29, 1987: Cannan caught trying to hold up a shop in Leamington Spa and arrested.

November 9 1987: Cannan is arrested on suspicion of stealing Shirley's car and her disappearance is linked to Suzy's. His laywer says his client had never met Suzy.

April 1989: Cannan guilty of Shirley's murder, raping the woman in Reading and for the attempted kidnap in Bristol. He is given a whole life term later reduced to 35 years.

August 1991: He writes a letter from prison to his local paper denying any part in Suzy's disappearance.

1999: Police start a cold case review and hand it to the murder squad

June 2002: Met name him as the only suspect

November 2002: CPS say he can't be prosecuted because of lack of evidence and 'trial by media'

June 2008: He loses appeal against his 35 year jail term

October 2018: Police return to his mother Sheila's home and examine the concrete pit Cannan used to tinker with his cars.

November 2018: Police call off search of garden after finding no evidence.

DGRossetti · 30/07/2019 15:30

For various reasons (not least the fact I worked not far from there in '86) it's been a case that stuck with me.

Always seemed a touch "odd" - can't quite describe it.

BarbaraofSeville · 30/07/2019 15:35

You can register on the telegraph website to read a limited number of articles. Or google to see if it is covered somewhere that meets your approval.

Soola · 30/07/2019 15:37

Until her body is found which there might be a chance of forensic evidence, I don’t think we will ever know.

Her parents were quite remarkable and in the months following their daughter’s disappearance they set up a trust and were advising women to carry personal alarms and offering safety advice.

So sad that both died never knowing what happened or seeing any justice.

DGRossetti · 30/07/2019 15:47

I guess the reason it is still remarkable is because it is so unusual. If she was the victim of a predator(s) then where are their previous attempts ? Generally we know predators build up in severity and leave a pattern that makes it a pattern. It's the same reason the Jack the Ripper murders are noteworthy - they stopped with no identified perpetrator.

As a data-nerd, I'd love to know if they've dug into people who were sent to prison not long after and either died or are still incarcerated - as that might explain the one-off nature. Although there is also the question of were there any trial runs, or previous victims ?

Personally I don't like names being bandied about too much. If just for the simple reason that if they are wrong (and they can be they divert attention from the real killer. Who may still be around and able to kill again Sad.

The fact she may have lied before her disappearance is also a worry. It implies she was hooking up with someone of bad intent who knew how to cover his tracks.

xTinkerhellx · 30/07/2019 15:53

It's plausible she made up a fake appointment. I sometimes block out my work calender for gynea appointments but will put something else as the reason as I don't want everyone to know when I'm getting a smear test/don't want nosy questions about what my 'medical appointment' is for etc.

Unfortunately, I think this will be a case that is never solved.

MarathonMo · 30/07/2019 15:53

David Videcette (DV) claims:

  1. Suzy never visited Shorrolds Road/'Mr Kipper' and invented the appointment to cover her tracks, really she was meeting meeting someone else.
  1. A resident of Shorrolds Rd claimed he saw a man that looked like John Canaan with a woman that looked like Suzy - apparently this was incorrect. There were other eye witness accounts which DV says were probably inaccurate and came about due to the publicity and TV coverage.
  1. The estate agents where Suzy worked allegedly only had one set of keys for the property - these were still in the office and never taken by Suzy. (Surely if you were pretending to go on a fictitious appointment at Shorrolds Rd you'd take the keys, though)?
  1. DV claims to have much more evidence that points to someone else etc.

The youtube Crimewatch reconstruction seems to show that here were multiple eye witness accounts and her colleagues say they were worried she'd become locked in the property at Shorrolds Rd. (You would have thought they would have checked to see if the keys were in the office or noticed she'd never had a set at some point)?

Here: Reconstruction from 17:40

OP posts:
AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 30/07/2019 15:57

I always link this case in my mind with Nicola Payne, who disappeared walking home and was never seen again. I wonder how many lost women there are out there who just vanish without trace unexpectedly?

MarathonMo · 30/07/2019 16:00

@DGRossettii the Shirley Banks case seems to have very similar hallmarks.

John Canaan often gave those he was romantically interested in champagne/roses/chocolates etc, JC was allegedly seen with SL with a bottle of champagne on day of her disappearance and there's much more that's similar. There's a huge amount of evidence that would seemingly link him to the SL case but always important to keep an open mind.

DV believes SL's abductor is still at large.

OP posts:
DGRossetti · 30/07/2019 16:21

We need to be very (I say "we" although "we" aren't going to be the ones that have anything to do with the solution) careful about what people think they saw. Even minutes after the event, let alone over a quarter of a century.

I will never forget how Jean Charles de Menezes was wearing a heavy jacket with rucksack as he vaulted the ticket barriers before fighting with armed police on the train. Utter bollocks from start to finish.

DV believes SL's abductor is still at large.

Or dead. Or somehow unable to continue - whether through incapacity or incarceration.

It's a puzzling case, no doubt about it.

I wonder how many lost women there are out there who just vanish without trace unexpectedly?

Hopefully in the UK none - or very few. I'm not here to get flamed, but hopefully a shift in public and attitudes towards sex workers means we can catch those deviants that seek to kill for thrills much quicker. I'm old enough to recall the Yorkshire Rippers reign of terror, and the problems thereof Sad.

MarathonMo · 30/07/2019 16:28

@DGRossetti, very good point re: JC de Menezes.

Re: John Canaan, both independent photofit pictures were very like John C and he was very smart and dapper and that fitted with eye witness accounts, also his modus operandi all seem to fit and timeline, release from bail hostel shortly before SL disappearance.

JC wasn't a suspect then or known to public then, I think, so that's interesting re: photofits and eye witness accounts.

OP posts:
CrimeThrillerGirl · 30/07/2019 23:19

There was another follow up piece in the Mail recently, (to add to what the OP and previous posters have stated):

It appears he has now named a live suspect to police and asked them to act because this suspect is not behind bars and could potentially be dangerous to the public?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7298017/Retired-detective-says-knows-killed-Suzy-Lamplugh.html

Retired detective says he knows who killed Suzy Lamplugh as he accuses Scotland Yard of ignoring evidence relating to the estate agent’s disappearance 33 years ago.

Retired Met detective David Videcette conducted a three-year re-investigation
He believes prime suspect John Cannan is innocent of the murder of Lamplugh
Says Lamplugh never had a meeting with a 'Mr Kipper' before her disappearance
He accused the Met of dragging its heels after providing them with a new suspect.

A former detective claims missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh wasn't on her way to meet 'Mr Kipper' on the day she disappeared.

A retired Scotland Yard detective believes he has found Suzy Lamplugh's killer after a painstaking three-year self-funded investigation.

Former organised crime investigator David Videcette, who spent 20 years in the Met, has accused his former force of 'dragging their heels' after he gave them the name of his new suspect a month ago.

Mr Videcette told MailOnline today: 'I believe that I know who killed Suzy Lamplugh.

'I've named that person to the police. He is alive well and at large, and has remained at large for the last 30 years.

'Who knows what he's been doing in all that time.'

He said he was speaking publicly 'to get the police to act and do something' adding: 'They've had this information for over a month and they've dragged their heels.

'The Met's a massive organisation and I don't understand why they've got a live named suspect with all his details and they won't do anything about it.'

Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, 25, vanished almost 33 years ago, it was believed after going to meet a client.

Killer John Cannan, 65, is currently serving three life sentences at Full Sutton Prison in York after being convicted of murder, attempted kidnap and rape in 1988.

He has never been charged in connection with Ms Lamplugh's murder, but is believed to have told a former girlfriend that he strangled her and buried her body in concrete.

However in a startling Twitter thread posted last week, Mr Videcette claimed his work had uncovered flaws in the Met's investigation and unearthed another suspect.

He wrote: 'People don’t just disappear.

Freelance investigator and former Scotland Yard detective David Videcette says he has unearthed 'compelling evidence' to suggest the case was flawed from the start.

Suzy Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, after going missing in 1986. John Cannan was named by police as their prime suspect in 2002. The garden of his mother's former home was searched last November.

Last November they even began digging up Cannan's mother's garden in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, but found nothing.

'So, in 2016, I began studying the flaws in the police investigations over the past three decades, to understand the repeated failures in why Suzy's body has never been found and why no one has ever been prosecuted for her disappearance and murder.

'I went back to the very start. I've traced dozens and dozens of original witnesses, some of whom police have never tracked down; some as far away as New Zealand and the USA.

'I’ve travelled thousands of miles to understand what went wrong from the very outset.'

He went on: 'Following a three-year, self-funded investigation, I now know the answers to Suzy’s disappearance and how these have been missed by police'

He believes the idea that Suzy met a client, 'Mr Kipper', at a house viewing and was abducted by him is completely wrong.

He said he had discovered she did not have the keys to conduct this viewing and could not have entered the premises.

In 2002, the Met Police named convicted rapist and killer John Cannan as the key suspect.

The police probe centred on identifying a 'Mr Kipper'. In 2002, the Met Police named convicted rapist and killer John Cannan as their key suspect

Videcette added: 'The police have missed or ignored the anomalies in the timelines leading up to Suzy’s disappearance and in the period afterwards. Analysing these timelines and understanding them in detail has been crucial in cracking the mystery of how and why Suzy went missing.'

He accused the Met of making 'repeated mistakes throughout' their investigation adding that police had 'closed their minds to any other possibility' than that Cannan was the killer.

HelenaDove · 31/07/2019 00:08

"fact she may have lied before her disappearance is also a worry. It implies she was hooking up with someone of bad intent who knew how to cover his tracks"

Was SHE the one who lied though Who told the police she went to Sharrold Road.

Dowser · 31/07/2019 00:28

Wow, that takes me back.
We were all in a hotel room ( possibly Portsmouth) visiting a friend from home.
Like a 7-8 car journey from home.
We mustve been on our way to France.
Poor woman, I think of her often

CrimeThrillerGirl · 31/07/2019 03:37

@HelenaDove

"Was SHE the one who lied though? Who told the police she went to Sharrold Road?"

I watched a documentary on this and apparently some police officer broke down the door of Suzy's flat in Putney on the night she went missing. So it doesn't sound to me like anyone at her work or within her family was that interested in that house viewing appointment at Shorrolds Road! She clearly didn't verbally say she was going to do a house showing that lunchtime, otherwise they'd have gone there that night and totally ignored her home?

Seems likely to me she's told someone at work she's "going home" and she's just popped something in the diary so that she could be certain to baggsy her lunch hour. We've all done it?

Bezalelle · 31/07/2019 04:38

I wonder how many lost women there are out there who just vanish without trace unexpectedly?

Hopefully in the UK none - or very few. I'm not here to get flamed, but hopefully a shift in public and attitudes towards sex workers means we can catch those deviants that seek to kill for thrills much quicker. I'm old enough to recall the Yorkshire Rippers reign of terror, and the problems thereof

I'm sorry, but this is spectacularly naive. You must be very sheltered. Have a look at the shit show that is the Holbeck "legal" red light district in Leeds if you want to know about attitudes to prostituted women.

BurningTheToast · 31/07/2019 04:46

Videcette claims that the Met have done nothing since his meeting with them in the last week of June but according to the timeline in the second article, on July 3rd they started searching land in Pershore, Worcestershire.

Presumably that was either prompted by his information or they already have ongoing lines of enquiry they want to follow before chasing his leads?

DV is a crime writer these days and I imagine his "three-year, self-funded investigation" was with a view to a book or tv deal so I can see why he's pressing to get this moving and be vindicated. Or is that too cynical of me?

DGRossetti · 31/07/2019 07:40

I'm sorry, but this is spectacularly naive. You must be very sheltered. Have a look at the shit show that is the Holbeck "legal" red light district in Leeds if you want to know about attitudes to prostituted women.

That's as may be but I stand by the assertion that people just don't disappear into thin air every day.

That said, I am also a little Hmm about DV claiming:

'I've named that person to the police. He is alive well and at large, and has remained at large for the last 30 years'

And not killed again ?

If that really is the case then it suggests the murder wasn't a sexual deviancy killing which escalates until the killer is caught ?

CrimeThrillerGirl · 31/07/2019 09:34

Videcette said: "I was not the source of information for the Met police’s dig in Sutton Coldfield back in November 2018, nor was I the source of information for the July 2019 search in the Drakes Broughton and Pershore area of Worcestershire."

"As each day passes, I fear that Suzy’s killer may continue to evade capture and prosecution.”

"Time is of the essence." He has urged his former colleagues to act swiftly in order to stand the best chance of securing justice for her family.

He said the Metropolitan Police is not acting on the information in a timely manner. The Telegraph is aware of the identity of the potential suspect, but is withholding the name for legal reasons.

"I fear that Suzy Lamplugh’s killer may continue to evade capture and prosecution.”

"Just to be clear, as some people don’t think I’ve been explicit enough. Over a month ago, among other things, I provided the police with evidence against a new suspect in the disappearance/murder of Suzy Lamplugh in 1986."

"This suspect is alive and at large."

"As the 33rd anniversary of Suzy's disappearance approaches, I implore the Met Police to act on the evidence I provided."

"I remain committed to working with the police, but cannot, and will not, be silent about the evidence forever."

"Suzy and her family deserve better."

So worrying about whether a live suspect might be raping and killing people as we speak is quite important, no??? Confused You can't just accuse people willy-nilly to the police and the Telegraph as being murderers in order just to get a book or TV deal?? Otherwise everyone would be doing it!

Soola · 31/07/2019 09:55

If this chap is right about knowing who is responsible for her disappearance and probable murder then the killer is aware that he could face justice and therefore make plans to evade it.

EdithWeston · 31/07/2019 10:13

One hopes the Met are investigating the person who he has named (still alive, at large now - doesn't mean he's been at liberty or in UK throughout the intervening period)

The point about overlooking the sets of keys (rather like not establishing exactly how bin lorry weighing machines work) does seem all too plausible, and blazingky obvious with hindsight.

I doubt she told anyone what she was doing, if the Fulham house appointment was simply a cover story. For if she had, they'd have come forward. Perhaps there was something that 'didn't fit the narrative' in the original evidence, about something she was known to be planning to do, or people she had met, that gave some idea what else she might have been doing that day. Otherwise, his on earth could you even start looking?

Soola · 31/07/2019 11:08

She had previously worked in a cruise ship. Maybe she hadn’t been at the estate agent job very long and hasn’t built up close friends or had many close girl friends outside I’d work.

Back then we didn’t keep in touch with people as much as we didn’t have mobile phones or social media.

So if she had met a chap that she had previously met then she might not have been in a position to mention it to anyone.

It’s very sad that her pretty face is immortalised forever in the few photographs there are of her, never growing old and having children and even grandchildren such as how much time has passed.

Soola · 31/07/2019 11:22

This makes for interesting reading. The author has their own perspective and opinion

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/mikeywomble.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/suzy-lamplugh-a-32-year-old-mystery/amp/

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