Suzy Lamplugh
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Suzy Lamplugh (pronounced "Lamp-lew"), born 1961, was a British estate agent much in the news after she was reported missing on 28 July 1986 (aged 25) in Fulham, West London. She has yet to be found. The last clue to her whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she referred to as "Mr Kipper". It was thought for some time after her disappearance that this was her pronunciation of the Dutch name "Kuiper", but despite police investigations, no-one of this name was found to be connected to Lamplugh.
Lamplugh lived in a 2 bedroom flat in Putney, London. Her office diary recorded the essential details of the appointment: '12.45 Mr Kipper - 37 Shorrolds Road O/S'. The annotation 'O/S' indicated that she planned to meet the prospective client outside the property.
She was wearing a grey colour skirt with a dark jacket and low high heel shoes on the day she went missing. She had blonde hair when she vanished, not brown hair that her pictures normally show. A week before she went missing, Suzy had her hair highlighted [1].
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[edit] Evidence
Witnesses reported that she appeared to be arguing with a man in Shorrolds Road and getting into a car.
Her white Ford Fiesta registration B396 GAN was found at 22:00 (BST) outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road, Fulham, approximately 11⁄2 miles away on the same day she vanished. The ignition key was missing and her purse was found in a door storage pocket.
Days before her disappearance an unknown man delivered a bunch of roses to Suzy's office, at Sturgis Estate Agents.
Police suggested that a black BMW car might have been involved due to an eye witness account of a car at the same location as Lamplugh's car in Stevenage Road.
[edit] Possible involvement of John Cannan
There has been speculation that a murderer and rapist named John Cannan could have killed Lamplugh because he was released from a hostel only days before she went missing [2]. However despite investigations there's no hard evidence of this. Cannan has denied any involvement.
John Cannan is serving a life sentence in Full Sutton prison 11 miles from York for the murder of Shirley Anne Banks who died in April 1989. Shirley's body was found in the Quantock hills in Somerset [3]. Shirley Anne Banks lived in Bristol, not far away from where John Cannan was living at that time, in a village called Congresbury east of Weston-super-Mare, where he was a car salesman at Holder's garage for a short time. It has been suggested that he was the killer of Sandra Court, in Bournemouth in 1986, the same year Lamplugh disappeared. He has also been charged with several rapes in the Reading area.
[edit] Police investigations
In 1994 Lamplugh was officially declared dead. There is no firm evidence to prove whether she is either dead or alive. Further police investigations in 1998 and 2000 failed to uncover any trace of her.
In 2000 a former girlfriend of John Cannan's, Gilly Paige, told police that he had suggested Lamplugh's body was buried at Norton Barracks, a former RAF barracks in Worcestershire. One of Cannan's fellow prisoners told police that Cannan had buried Lamplugh under the patio of his Mother's house in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands [4].
[edit] Similar cases
There was a similar case involving a 48 year old female estate agent in Wiltshire who met a client called Mr Herring. She was attacked with a sharp object which caused her to have cuts to her arm and she was pushed to the ground, but she managed to release herself and Mr Herring ran away. Police have said there is no connection between this case and the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh [5].
The only person to be convicted of attacking a female estate agent is Michael Sams who kidnapped Stephanie Slater in 1992 [6]. She was an estate agent employee in the West Midlands. Slater was held in a makeshift coffin for 8 days in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire while Michael Sams blackmailed the British police and British Rail for £175,000. Stephanie's employers paid the ransom and Slater was released outside her parents' house. He was later arrested after his ex-wife recognised his voice when it was played on the BBC Crimewatch TV programme. He was also found guilty of murdering 18 year old Julie Dart at her home in Leeds [7]. He is serving life for both these crimes at Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire.
[edit] External links
- The Suzy Lamplugh Trust An organisation created by Diana Lamplugh OBE - Suzy's Mother, to promote personal safety.
- The search for Suzy BBC Newspage.
- BBC On this Day BBC page on 30 July 1986, the day the appeal was made by Suzy's parents for her safe return.
- BBC News page Witness describes 'Lamplugh kidnap'
