Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SUZY SUSPECT’S TAUNTS OVER COP SEARCH
Cannan’s chilling jail letter whinges over Lamplugh hunt and tells of dark past
BLEATING killer John Cannan has penned a self-pitying letter from jail in which he taunts Suzy Lamplugh cops with chilling references to his past.
The twisted murderer claims police are “assassinating” his character and says he is “deeply upset” by an ongoing dig at his mum’s old home.
He even says he had wanted to “throw myself off the building” after learning of the police operation.
Police are searching for Suzy’s body and Cannan, 64, is the only suspect over her disappearance in 1986.
But in his letter, which the Sunday Mirror has passed to police, he bemoans the fact he cannot publicly defend himself.
And in a mysterious extract he makes two references to his old life.
Cannan – jailed for the 1987 killing of Shirley Banks, 29 – writes: “At the time I was living my life very much in the shadows because of what I was doing, so take nothing at face value.”
And in a bizarre turn of phrase, he adds: “Strange really, the reality of my life is so much more interesting yet it has been buried.”
Cannan, who denies any involvement in 25-year-old estate agent Suzy’s disappearance, wrote to a woman penpal from top security Full Sutton jail, near York.
CONCRETE
The letter is dated
November 6, eight days after a search began at his mother’s former house in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids. Police are probing a theory that Suzy was buried in a garage inspection pit which was then filled with concrete.
Suzy – pronounced dead, presumed murdered, in 1994 – vanished in 1986 after leaving her office to show a property to a client known only as Mr Kipper in Fulham, South West London.
Cannan is said to have jokingly used the name Mr Kipper to a girlfriend – and bail hostel pals nicknamed him Kipper for eating smelly fish and sleeping much of the day.
He was released from jail on day release days before Suzy vanished.
And a criminologist says a red Ford Sierra later retrieved by police had traces of Cannan’s and Suzy’s DNA.
But in his prison note Cannan claims he is “powerless” to protest his innocence. He writes: “The police assassination of me has upset me deeply. Worse, I am in no position to reply to it so I feel powerless.”
Last week a 1987 dating video
emerged showing suited Cannan sneering and smiling as he spoke about his ideal woman.
The film for Suitor Dating Agency was just six weeks before he was arrested for abducting and murdering newlywed Shirley Banks in Bristol.
Cannan’s appearance is in marked contrast to the dishevelled and wild police mugshot taken after his arrest over Shirley’s murder. In the video he
described his perfect woman as actress Stephanie Beacham and said he wanted to find “somebody natural, nice and pleasant, somebody with character... somebody who’s easy and relaxed to be with”.
But he also snarled about being turned off by the “inflated egos” and “inner weakness” of some women.
Cannan writes about the dating video in his letter to the penpal.
He says: “Well actually, I never asked to meet any woman from that agency.
“It wasn’t quite what you think. Actually do not believe much of what you’re reading or seeing on telly. A lot of it I dispute.”
Cannan thanks his female friend for a “kind letter” she wrote to him – and even says he would buy her a villa if he won the lottery.
He also discusses his own appearance, writing: “Physically I haven’t changed much. I piled on weight for a few years but I’ve since lost it again.”
Cannan is serving three life sentences – for Shirley’s murder in October 1987, attempted kidnap of a woman the previous night and raping a woman in Reading a year earlier.
He was captured when he robbed a dress shop assistant at knifepoint three weeks after Shirley vanished.
A road tax disc from Shirley’s car was found in Cannan’s black BMW. It led to the discovery of her Mini Clubman in his garage at a block of flats where he lived in Clifton, Bristol.
The car had a false plate – SLP 386S, a suspected reference to Suzy’s name and the year she vanished.
Cannan was given a whole life sentence at Exeter Crown Court in April 1989, but it was commuted on appeal to a 35-year minimum tariff. He is eligible for parole in four years.