Cold case detectives remain “haunted” by the unsolved disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh 40 years on, as the clock ticks down to the case being mothballed in 12 months’ time.
The 25-year-old estate agent left the office of Sturgis and Sons in Fulham, west London, at 12.30pm on July 28 1986 and never returned.
Head of the Metropolitan Police cold case homicide squad Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Foster said four decades on and with the prime suspect in the case dead, her team’s wish remains to “bring Suzy home”.
The disappearance
Miss Lamplugh put an appointment with a mysterious “Mr Kipper” at a property in Shorrolds Road, Fulham, in her work diary on the day she vanished. Her company car, a white Ford Fiesta, was later found abandoned in nearby Stevenage Road. She was legally declared presumed dead in 1993.
Ms Foster said: “It haunts myself as the senior investigating officer, and I think that comes down to the fact that Suzy’s never been found. With a lot of our cases we do have an answer for the family, we know where they were, we know what happened to them. But with this, Suzy never being found, and it haunts us. We don’t have a case like this within my team.”
Investigation history
Miss Lamplugh’s disappearance sparked one of the largest ever missing persons investigations in the UK. The inquiry is the only Metropolitan Police case that still uses the old 1980s card index system in case any crucial piece of written information from the time has been overlooked.
The force is set to move the inquiry to an “inactive phase” in 12 months’ time, meaning that while new information will be followed up, the team will no longer actively work on the case.
John Cannan, the prime suspect, died in prison in November 2024, while serving a jail sentence for the 1987 abduction and murder of Bristol newlywed Shirley Banks. Police presented a file of evidence to prosecutors in 2002 but there was not enough to charge him with Suzy’s murder, and no forensic evidence has ever been found to link him to her disappearance.
Evidence gathered from the headrest of a seat in her car using adhesive tape has been analysed for mitochondrial DNA in the US, but no profile could be found. A smudged fingerprint was also found on the rear view mirror of the car, but investigators have never found out who it belongs to.
Future breakthroughs
Ms Foster said breakthroughs in AI or forensics could hold the key to cracking the case in the future, or if people with information decide to come forward. She remembers when Suzy first disappeared in 1986 – the story even made the news in her small home town in New Zealand.
“Bringing somebody to justice is always going to be difficult when it’s 40 years (on). We will rely on forensics, but for us, the most important thing is finding Suzy and bringing Suzy home. I’m quite excited about what’s happening in the artificial intelligence world. It could change any murder investigation, but most especially a cold case with all the documents that we have. But also change of allegiance, family members coming forward, even after 40 years. We’ve seen this recently with two cases that the Met has prosecuted, and it’s family members coming forward, just giving us the information that we need.”
Three killers were brought to justice in two cases where family members passed on information after decades – Janice Nix, and brothers Michael and Anthony Stewart. Nix was convicted in June of the 1978 manslaughter of her five-year-old stepdaughter Andrea Bernard by forcing her into a scalding bath; and the Stewarts were jailed in the same month for the 1984 murder of civil servant Anthony Littler.
Previous searches
One informant previously claimed police had not taken him seriously when he reported seeing a man throwing something in the Grand Union Canal at the time of Suzy’s disappearance. But the cold case team is confident that the correct stretch of water was fully searched in 2014 during a separate inquiry, the case of murdered teenager Alice Gross, and nothing relating to Miss Lamplugh’s disappearance was found.
A number of searches have previously been carried out in relation to the case, including on land between Pershore and Drakes Broughton in Worcestershire in 2010; in a property in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, in 2018; and on land near Drakes Broughton in Worcestershire in 2019, but nothing was found.
Family tribute
Miss Lamplugh’s parents set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in the wake of her disappearance to champion women’s safety. The family has released previously unpublished photos of her to mark the 40th anniversary.
In a statement issued through the charity, her siblings Lizzie, Tamsin and Richard said: “She was, as she is always portrayed, a truly beautiful person inside and out. Everyone who met Suz (correct) was touched by her kindness, empathy, strength of character and joy for life. Within months of her disappearance, our parents founded the Suzy Lamplugh Trust with a vision to help create a world where everyone can live free from violence, aggression and fear. We are incredibly proud of the trust’s work in driving change, influencing policy and supporting victims-survivors.”
