Suzy Lamplugh - 33 years since she went missing

[MarathonMo]

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?

NB: I said Sandra Banks when I meant Shirley Banks.

If it was Cannan - why have the police not got him for it in the past 33 years? All of the stuff you mention has been retracted or is circumstantial or people who came forward decades later to say they might have once seen a BMW.

They will have tested Suzy's car and flat and workplace and house for sale for Cannan's DNA and fingerprints? That's how they got him for Shirley Banks?

The fact they've never found her and never found a shred of evidence against him is compelling. Why not look at Videcette's new narrative? Perhaps after all this time they have been chasing the wrong man. And that's why there is no evidence to convict Cannan.

There is HUGE volume of circumstantial evidence, not all of which can be explained away. Is it all confirmation bias re: JC?

I agree keeping an open mind is really important.

Which point re: Crimewatch and E Agency boss? Which clip - there a few and another crime programme that's similar. Thanks.

YouTube link to October 1996 Crimewatch video. Suzy's boss visible from about 24mins and 30secs in. Is he Mr Kipper?

Sorry - it's October 1986 Crimewatch. The year Suzy went missing. (not 1996!).

Thanks, didn't the boss think it was a bit odd that if there were only one set of keys for Shorrolds, which were still at the office, (Videcette's claim I think) she could have got herself locked in the property?

Also why does it say in the programme that she had the keys with her on a distinctive yellow fob if V claims that in truth, these never left the office?

I've explained upthread how there could have been a second set of keys.

The Crimewatch clip does however show the colleagues outside the property trying to look in when they go to look for her, indicating that they had no keys to gain access.

@Westfacing, whilst you're right & that makes sense re: keys, it seems Videcette's investigations have shed more light in this area and what you outline wasn't the policy at Sturgis.

If there was definitely only one set of keys and these were in the office at the time of her disappearance a few things don't add up here not least why no one flagged this to police at the time:

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

Mr Videcette claims the estate agency that Miss Lamplugh worked for only had one set of keys to the Shorrolds Road property and these were recovered from the office by the police after she went missing.

“But I tracked down several estate agency employees and the original owner of the estate 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 because she never intended on conducting the house viewing at Shorrolds Road. I firmly believe that when she wrote in her office diary that she was going to meet Mr Kipper at Shorrolds Road, she was in fact going to meet someone else.”

Mr Videcette is hoping the extensive dossier of evidence he has compiled will give Scotland Yard enough information to arrest the real killer in the coming weeks."

I hope something comes of this,to give her family some piece of mind.I remember this story so well.And its heartbreaking her parents died without so much of a clue as to what happened to her.

"The Crimewatch clip does however show the colleagues outside the property trying to look in when they go to look for her, indicating that they had no keys to gain access."

So how does the Crimewatch camera crew get inside and film from the inside out?

Mr Videcette is hoping the extensive dossier of evidence he has compiled will give Scotland Yard enough information to arrest the real killer in the coming weeks."

The thing is the police will have a dossier just as (if not bigger) than DVs . The contents of which aren't known - and may never been. It's entirely possible that whatever DV is proposing simply doesn't square with aspects of the investigation that have been withheld. Although it's also entirely possible (as with the Yorkshire Ripper) that the police grabbed onto a falsehood early on, and have set that in stone - preventing them from progressing.

Am I right in thinking that JC is in prison already with no real hope of release? So, if he did murder this poor girl, there's not really much that can be added to his sentence? Or is he expecting parole? Because why wouldn't he admit to the murder, if he did do it?

Did he have any friends (especially inside) that might have copied his MO, having heard about it? There are a lot of similarities, but it could be a copy-cat, and public perception does the rest.

@Zaphodsotherhead he was convicted in July 88 for the murder of Mrs Banks whom he abducted October 87.

Suzy disappeared July 86 before he went to prison so it can’t really be a copycat killer.

Timeline of John Cannon

www.murderuk.com/one_off_John_Cannan.html

Cannan

Am I right in thinking that JC is in prison already with no real hope of release? So, if he did murder this poor girl, there's not really much that can be added to his sentence? Or is he expecting parole? Because why wouldn't he admit to the murder, if he did do it?

Because he is not like you & I - he's a serial killer. It's all about control and maintaining his sense of superiority over us mortals in every respect. Look at how Brady and Hindley continued to act after imprisonment.

There is also a slim possibility that he gets paroled in 2023 ... so why risk that with any confession ? The parole board (quite properly) can't factor in "da feelz" to their decisions. So if there is no evidence to the contrary he has as much chance as anyone else who can convince the board they have changed.

Ironically, JCs biggest hurdle (and it's a pernicious horror of the penal system) is his repeated insistence he is innocent. Which means he is unlikely to be paroled.

Of course - I forgot the huge police dossier of information that nobody could ever have had access to...

Good luck to the police - they haven't solved it or found a body in 33 years... They've tried several times and couldn't fit Cannan up with it either. Nor do they look likely to in the next 33 years, despite having dug up most of England.

It's time someone realised that chasing Cannan is pointless. The police can't find any hard evidence to convict him because that evidence doesn't exist. There is none to find. It's all rumours.

The police (CPS) wouldn't need a body for a conviction, if a confession could be corroborated with things we don't (well I don't, not sure about others on this thread) know.

I have no problem believing Brady (and possibly Hindley) murdered poor Keith Bennet, despite the absence of a body . At the time of the murders there were massively deep trenches running across the Pennines for the high pressure gas grid. If a body was dropped into one of those it's probably never going to be found. Also with respect to the Moors murders, it was noted that if Brady had walked his victim to the Moors before killing them, they could be anywhere.

I mention the last point, because it can change the parameters for body hunting. Ambulatory victims (which SL may have been ?) need different considerations.

I read that a red Ford Sierra which JC owned in 1986 - though wasn't the car used to abduct Suzie - was discovered in the year 2000 where it had been sat in a secondhand car sales place for years.

Forensics, according to what I read, found trace evidence of both John Cannan (obviously) and also that of Suzy Lamplugh.

However, the CPS refused to charge JC because:

(A) They wanted a confession

(B) Although the probabilities of both Suzy and JC having been in the car at separate times is probably a million to one or more, it only proved they'd been in the same car. It didn't prove they'd been in the same car at the same time, or that he'd raped/murdered her.

(C) Due to all the huge publicity naming John Cannan as prime suspect, his trial would have been prejudiced.

Regarding the set/sets of keys, it's possible Suzy didn't take them with her, perhaps forgot to as she was apparently showing him two properties - she may have been running late & forgot them. But if Suzy was going on a secret rendezvous under the guise of doing a house viewing (which seems unlikely given her character) she'd still have taken the keys. Why wouldn't she? She'd have created suspicion if she hadn't taken them and someone happened to notice.

And if there were only one set of keys which always remained on the key-board, why didn't her colleagues and manager notice that when she was late back? Her manager phoned Suzy's mum not long after lunch, asking if she'd heard from Suzy. Had the keys been on the board where they should have been kept, he'd have noticed them then, and gone to Shorrolds Road to check inside the house. I believe they did go and check at Shorrolds that afternoon, but I'm not sure if they went inside or not.

Either there were two sets of keys, and the estate agents simply made a mistake and forgot to log that they had two sets (we all make errors sometimes) or there was actually only one set and in Suzy's possible rush to get to Shorrolds Road she realised too late that she'd forgotten them and had to wait for Mr Kipper outside, which was the plan anyway, and planned on telling him they'd have to go back to collect the keys. Remember, they had no mobile phones then, so she'd have had no choice but to wait outside.

Mr Kipper supposedly turned up 15 minutes late and the witness who saw them arguing outside never mentioned seeing them enter or leave the house, and forensics must have poured over it with a fine tooth comb, but there was no trace of either Suzy, Cannan or any other unaccounted for person.

It's worth reminding anyone who didn't live through the case that - incredible as it seems today - no one would have thought twice about a woman doing unaccompanied viewings as an estate agent in 1986.

So an awful lot of what people noticed and did not notice at the time was through the prism of that society.

One of the most immediate effects of the SL case was women suddenly realised how vulnerable they were.

I read that a red Ford Sierra

Any chance of a link or cite ?

Link to criminologist: www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/criminologist-speaks-out-on-details-linking-248973

He claims that Cannan was driving the red Ford on the day Suzy disappeared, but as he was so cunning he'd never had been driving a car in his name with Suzy in it, alive or otherwise. A dark/black BMW was seen parked near to where Suzy's car was found later that night, and was never seen before or since. JC was known to have driven a BMW which he either hired/borrowed to impress the women, and also used it to drive her wherever he took her. He'd have then simply taken the car back and caught a train to wherever he was living. It's very simple.

PP you are right that she would have taken keys if a bogus viewing and If there were only one set of keys, investigator says duplicate copies were always on same ring after tracking down former staff, why did no one think that was odd they had the set in the office? Someone said they were appealing for a missing set of Sturgis keys? That makes no sense if above true?

Thanks - a lot to read, however, this makes it hard to take seriously:

“He also had his own number plate put on with the registration SLP 386. The SLP could represent Suzy Lamplugh’s initials, the number three could represent his third victim and the last two numbers may indicate 1986

2 "coulds" do not make a "must" and moreover have a strong whiff of "Paul is dead". The fact this keeps being mentioned more than once, in place of any real evidence isn't doing the case for the prosecution any favours ...

“They found the car when the case was re-opened in 2000, and I understand they did find trace evidence of both Cannan and Suzy Lamplugh.

Trace evidence. At a distance of 14 years it's hard to imagine what could qualify. Soil ?

‘‘This evidence has never been put before a jury because the Crown Prosecution Service will not proceed without a confession.

I submit it's more likely that they don't want it laughed out of court.

Mr Berry-Dee had handed over hundreds of letters from Cannan to cops almost a decade ago when the case was re-opened.

It was at this point I gave up - this isn't a newspaper article of any importance whatsoever (not that I expected better of the Birmingham Mail to start with). It's a clickbaity puff piece for his book ...