Cold case detectives probing the murder of missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh are convinced they know who killed her but face a race against time to solve the 40-year mystery. Scotland Yard today said John Cannan remained the "prime suspect" in her 1986 abduction after years of eliminating other suspects, including "Suffolk Strangler" Steve Wright.
Convicted rapist Cannan died in 2024 in his cell at HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, aged 70, taking his secrets to the grave. Following his death, detectives sifted through his prison writings but found no new evidence. Despite a lack of forensics, officers believe circumstantial evidence makes Cannan the most likely killer.
Final plea for information
Detectives said they will begin winding down the 40-year investigation — one of the UK's biggest missing persons probes — and classify it as "inactive" over the next year. They have months to trace 30 people who may have key information in hope of finding Suzy's body.
Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Foster said: "Please help us find Suzy's body." Referring to Cannan, she added: "I think John Cannan is a very good suspect. He's been a focus, but not the only focus."
Missed confession opportunity
Detectives admit they missed any chance to secure Cannan's confession before his death. Foster said: "Up until his death there were efforts to speak to him again. With him dying, we cannot bring justice anymore. It will have to be forensics to point to if he did it."
Cannan — serving a life sentence for the 1989 murder and rape of Shirley Banks — always denied involvement in Suzy's disappearance on July 28, 1986. She went to meet a client known as "Mr Kipper" in Fulham, west London, and vanished. Her body was never found; she was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1993.
Evidence review
The cold case unit holds 3,000 documents and 80,000 pieces of physical evidence. On the 40th anniversary, police revealed they reviewed all DNA evidence from the abandoned white Ford Fiesta found near where she was last seen. Seat tapings, fibres and DNA from the vehicle were sent for mitochondrial testing in the US in 2018 but failed to identify suspects.
Police hope advances in forensic testing and artificial intelligence may help. A smudged fingerprint on the rearview mirror remains unidentified and does not match Cannan's DNA. Digs across the UK, including a 2018 excavation at Cannan's mother's home in Sutton Coldfield, found no trace of Suzy.
Steve Wright ruled out
Police ruled out "Suffolk Strangler" Steve Wright as a suspect. The serial killer, serving a whole-life tariff for killing six women, was said to have worked with Suzy on QE2 cruises in the 1980s. But detectives spoke to 17 crew mates who denied a relationship, and Wright was on board the ship on the day Suzy vanished, docking at Southampton hours after she was reported missing.
Foster said: "There's nothing to indicate any sort of relationship. We ruled him out."
Case legacy
Suzy's disappearance changed British workplaces' approach to lone working and personal protection. The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, set up to tackle stalking, was born. Foster said her officers remain "haunted" by the case. "It does frustrate us. We've never found who did it. Our priority is finding Susan, finding her remains to bring her back."
In 2024, Cannan wrote to the Mirror insisting he did not kill Suzy, claiming an alibi: he was in Birmingham "treating my mother to a spot of lunch" on the day she vanished.
