The prime suspect in the disappearance of the missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh has died in prison aged 70.
John Cannan, a convicted murderer and rapist, was named by police two years ago as the main suspect in 25-year-old Lamplugh’s disappearance in 1986, a crime which he always denied.
Cannan was jailed for a minimum of 35 years in 1989 for the rape and murder of a Bristol factory manager, Shirley Banks, along with a further sexual offence, an attempted kidnapping and two offences of abduction with intent to engage in unlawful sexual intercourse.
Police looking for Lamplugh last year launched a forensic review into a possible new clue to her disappearance.
Detectives investigating the Cheltenham-born Lamplugh’s disappearance were hoping that new technology would crack the case after 37 years.
The 25-year-old estate agent vanished when she went to show a client around a flat in Fulham, south west London, in 1986.
She was never found and was declared dead in absentia in 1993, but the case has remained a mystery.
Hairs, fibres and body tissue samples found in Lamplugh’s abandoned car were believed to be the focus of the new scientific probe. It is thought to be the longest running murder probe in the UK, having been actively investigated since the day she disappeared on 28 July 1986.
Police also found a smudged fingerprint on the rear-view mirror of the car that they believe could belong to the killer.
They were able to extract a small amount of DNA from it in 2000, but not enough to give a profile of its owner.
Cannan was repeatedly questioned in prison in connection with the incident. It was revealed that he had been released from a hostel only days before Lamplugh went missing and he resembled a photofit of the man seen with her on the day she disappeared.
But no charges were brought against him and nothing was found when excavations were carried out at the former home of Cannan’s mother in Sutton Coldfield in 2018.
In October of last year a parole board found Cannan was still too dangerous to release, despite serving 35 years in prison. The panel heard that Cannan continued to insist he was innocent and did not engage in any accredited programmes to address the risk of reoffending while in jail.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Full Sutton prisoner John Cannan died on 6 November. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
