Suzy Lamplugh police search is focused on patio
POLICE digging up a back garden seeking clues to the murder of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh extended their search to a patio yesterday.
Miss Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, after going missing aged 25 in 1986.
Metropolitan Police forensics teams have been working since the beginning of the week at the semi-detached property.
The house in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, once belonged to the mother of prime suspect John Cannan.
The search had been centred on the site of a dismantled garage, built on concrete flooring, at the edge of the garden.
Another blue forensics tent has now been set up at the immediate rear of the home and patio slabs could be seen stacked nearby.
Cannan was jailed for life in 1989 for the rape and murder of Bristol newlywed Shirley Banks.
Closure
He was named as prime suspect by police in 2002, but Miss Lamplugh’s death has remained one of the UK’s most notorious cold cases.
Searches of the Sutton Coldfield house were carried out in 2003 and into early 2004.
But the Yard admitted yesterday that the officer then in charge of investigations at the address, Detective Superintendent Jim Dickie, did not have his team dig up the garden.
Mr Dickie told the BBC: “We had no evidence or intelligence to lead us to believe that John Cannan may have secreted Suzy’s body there.”
Insurance marketer Phillip Carey bought the home in Shipton Road from Sheila Cannan in 1992.
Police have made it clear he is in no way involved in the inquiry.
Miss Lamplugh’s brother Richard said he hoped her body would be found so the family could have a “proper goodbye”.
“It has been a long time and we have had our expectations raised before, but it would be nice if we could finally have some closure,” he said.
On the day of her disappearance, Miss Lamplugh left her west London estate agency offices to meet a mystery client called Mr Kipper.
Witnesses reported seeing Miss Lamplugh arguing with a man outside a property in Fulham.
Three days earlier, Cannan had been released from a hostel at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where he had been serving a six-year sentence for rape. He bore a strong resemblance to an e-fit of the abductor and, according to reports, had been nicknamed Kipper in jail.
Miss Lamplugh was dead in 1994.
Cannan, now 64, has been questioned several times over the murder and has denied the allegation.
Miss Lamplugh’s parents Paul and Diana set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to support victims of stalking.
But both died before seeing their daughter’s killer brought to justice.
The trust said the latest police moves were a reminder of the “continuing tragedy” of Suzy’s disappearance. presumed