Murderer’s parole fears over Suzy link
A JAILED killer linked to the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh has complained that police are trying to block his parole.
John Cannan made his claim as Suzy’s family begged for him never to be freed.
Cannan – the prime suspect in her 1986 disappearance – is eligible for release in 2022 after serving more than 30 years for killing factory boss Shirley Banks in 1987.
But he claims detectives have “smeared” him by repeatedly linking him to estate agent Suzy, 25, who vanished after going to meet a client only known as “Mr Kipper”.
She was declared dead, presumed murdered, seven years after she went missing.
Speaking from his cell, Cannan, now 64, said: “I am concerned the police will use Suzy’s disappearance to undermine my parole prospects.
“My concern is that smearing me has become the rule, not the exception. I had no involvement in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh.”
Cannan, who says he suffers partial paralysis and needs to use a wheelchair after a stroke, claimed the police were “determined to use me as a convenient peg to hang the disappearance upon”.
But Suzy’s brother Richard brushed aside the killer’s complaints – and revealed Suzy’s family believe he murdered her.
“I don’t know Cannan but I don’t care for him at all,” said Richard, 59. “He was convicted of the murder of another girl.
“He has never been prosecuted for my sister’s murder. If he’s done it then I would like him to tell us her whereabouts and we can then bury her where we want to bury her rather than where whoever killed her has buried her.” Suzy went missing in July 1986 after going to show a Mr Kipper – the entry in her diary – around a house in Shorrolds Road in Fulham, west London.
Her white Ford Fiesta was later found outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road about a mile and a half away.
Police named Cannan as the prime suspect in 2002 – but prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence against him.
Cannan insisted: “Being continuously linked to the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh has left me feeling puzzled and powerless because I had no involvement. I cannot disclose the whereabouts of Suzy Lamplugh because I didn’t kill her.
“I cannot tell people things I do not know.”
The former car salesman was given three life sentences for abducting and murdering Shirley Banks, 29, in Bristol in October 1987.
She was held captive at his flat and forced to phone in sick to the factory where she worked as a textiles manager.
Cannan killed her and dumped her naked body at Dead Woman’s Ditch in the Quantock Hills, Somerset. He was also convicted of the attempted kidnap of Julia Holman the night before he snatched Ms Banks and the rape of a woman in Reading a year earlier.
Cannan was handed a whole life tariff, later reduced to a minimum of 35 years.
Last night retired Det Supt Jim Dickie – who spent six years investigating Suzy’s case – said: “Cannan is still a suspect for the disappearance and murder of Suzy Lamplugh, there’s no doubt about that at all.
“If the Parole Board ever release Cannan into the general public again, the consequences of freeing a serial rapist and murderer must be on their heads.”