Who is John Cannan? Main suspect in the Suzy Lamplugh case
MORE than three decades after London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh disappeared, police dug up the garden of the house where prime suspect John Cannan’s mum once lived.
Lamplugh, 25, was abducted in 1986 after going to meet a client to show him two houses in Fulham. She was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.
Who is John Cannan?
Cold case detectives named Cannan as the prime suspect of the Lamplugh’s murder in 2002.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough evidence to prosecute Cannan, now 67, who has already been convicted and jailed for a series of crimes.
John Cannan is currently held in Full Sutton prison 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.
On the evening before his murder of Banks, Cannan had attempted to kidnap another woman, and he was also found to have raped a third at knifepoint in Reading, Berks, a year earlier.
The crimes saw him given three life sentences, and despite originally being given a whole life tariff, this was later reduced to a minimum 35-year sentence.
He had since attempted to appeal the mandatory 35 years, which has been rejected.
Cold case detectives named Cannan as the prime suspect in November 2002 after the Crown Prosecution Service rejected their attempt to charge him, deeming there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.
A fellow prison inmate came forward after the naming, saying that Lamplugh was buried under the patio at Cannan’s mother’s house.
Detectives now believe Cannan may have driven to what was then his mother’s home following the suspected murder.
But there were many other clues which suggested Cannan was Mr Kipper long before this tip-off.
An important one was that 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.
What happened to Suzy Lamplugh?
Lamplugh, 25, was abducted in 1986 after going to meet a client named “Mr Kipper” to show him two houses in Fulham.
But, after the mystery house viewing, Lamplugh 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.
Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.
Are there any other suspects in the Suzy Lamplugh case?
Another suspect in the Suzy Lamplugh case is serial killer Steven Wright – also known as the Suffolk Strangler.
According to reports from Entertainment Daily, Lamplugh worked as a beautician on the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1982.
At the same time Steven Wright was working as a steward.
Steve Wright is a convicted serial killer, the murders taking place over a few months at the end of 2006.
He is known as the Suffolk Strangler and the Ipswich Ripper.
Before his arrest his only criminal activity on record was theft, which is how his DNA was identified in connection with the murders.
Steve Wright had a gambling addiction and was in debt.
He had attempted suicide twice – once through gassing himself, the second through a pill overdose.
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Wright’s father, Conrad Wright, told the Mirror he was “troubled” by pictures of Steven Wright with estate agent Suzy, before she vanished in 1986.
The Metropolitan Police investigated Wright in 2008 in relation to Lamplugh’s disappearance.
However, a senior Met police officer described the link as “speculative”.