Forty years after estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanished after leaving her office to meet a man known only as “Mr Kipper,” Scotland Yard detectives are racing against time to trace 30 people who may hold the key to finding her body – before the investigation goes inactive.
Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Foster of the Metropolitan Police’s cold case homicide unit today made a direct appeal: “Please help us find Suzy’s body.” The plea came on the exact anniversary of the 25-year-old’s disappearance on July 28, 1986, one of the biggest missing persons investigations in UK history.
“Scotland Yard makes final plea to find Suzy Lamplugh's body as prime suspect John Cannan died without confessing.”
For decades, the prime suspect has been John Cannan, a convicted rapist and murderer who was publicly named by detectives in 2002 as Suzy’s killer. Cannan died in 2024 in his cell at HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, aged 70, while serving a 35-year life sentence for the 1989 murder and rape of Shirley Banks. He always denied involvement in Suzy’s disappearance.
Despite sifting through Cannan’s prison writings after his death, officers failed to unearth new evidence or forensic leads. Yet Foster said Cannan remains “a very good suspect” and “a prime suspect,” though she added: “I’m keeping an open mind.” Other names put forward over the years have all been eliminated, including the so-called “Suffolk Strangler” Steve Wright.
The investigation is now set to be wound down and classified as “inactive” over the next year. Detectives have just months to trace 30 individuals who may have key information, in the hope of finally locating Suzy’s body.
Foster acknowledged that officers missed their chance to secure a confession. “Up until [his death] there were efforts made to speak to him again,” she said. “So with him dying, we would not be able to bring justice anymore. And it’s going to have to be forensics really to point to if he did do it.”
Suzy’s heartbroken family released new pictures of the estate agent to mark the 40th anniversary. The case, which sparked enduring questions about the identity of “Mr Kipper” – the person she went to meet in Fulham, west London – remains one of Britain’s most haunting unsolved mysteries.
