‘Confess, cleanse your soul and clear your conscience’ dying Suzy Lamplugh murder suspect is urged as ex-detective tells jailed John Cannan, 68, to ‘go to his maker having done the right thing’ and ‘give the families some closure they deserve’
- John Cannan, 68, is suspected of having killed Suzy Lamplugh in Fulham
- In 1986, the 25-year-old estate agent went missing and has never been found
- Ex-Met Police detective John Dickie is calling on Cannan to ‘do the right thing’
- Cannan is terminally ill, and it is feared he will take his secrets to the grave
- He is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Shirley Banks in 1989
A former detective who believes convicted murderer John Cannan also killed Suzy Lamplugh has called on him to ‘clear his conscience’ and confess, as he warned the dying 68-year-old could go to his grave ‘without ever saying what he knows’.
Cannan is serving 35 years in prison for a separate murder, and was named in 2002 by police as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh, a 25-year-old estate agent who vanished in July 1986 in Fulham, West London.
Ex-detective Jim Dickie has now renewed calls on the convicted killer to confess to his alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of Ms Lamplugh, after it was revealed Cannan is currently receiving end-of-life treatment behind bars.
Mr Dickie said: ‘He can tell all, cleanse his soul, clear his conscience and go to his maker having done the right thing by the families, which is the most important thing.
‘I would urge him to take that course of action because it would give the families some closure which they deserve.
A former Met Police detective who believes John Cannan (pictured) killed Suzy Lamplugh has called on him to confess before the 68-year-old terminally ill inmate ‘meets his maker
While employed as a detective superintendent for the Metropolitan Police, Jim Dickie (pictured) investigated Ms Lamplugh’s case in the early 2000s, during which time he became convinced Cannan had murdered her
Suzy Lamplugh (pictured), a 25-year-old estate agent, vanished in July 1986 in Fulham, West London, and her body has never been found
He added: ‘The outcome of this is entirely in John Cannan’s hands.’
Cannan, who is receiving palliative care in Full Sutton jail, East Yorkshire, has always maintained he had no involvement in Ms Lamplugh’s death.
Ms Lamplugh’s parents died without finding out what happened to their daughter, whose body has never been found.
While employed as a detective superintendent for the Metropolitan Police, Mr Dickie investigated Ms Lamplugh’s case in the early 2000s, during which time he became convinced Cannan had murdered her.
Mr Dickie also lays the blame at Cannan’s door for the murder of Sandra Court, a 26-year-old insurance clerk from Bournemouth, whose body was found in a water-filled ditch on the Avon Causeway in May 1986.
‘There’s a possibility he’ll [Cannan] die without ever saying what he knows’, Mr Dickie told The Mirror.
A photofit of the client ‘Mr Kipper’ Suzy went to meet before she disappeared was released, but police did not name Cannan as the prime suspect until 2002
He continued: ‘The problem is that no one can force him to tell us what’s happened in respect of Suzy Lamplugh and also Sandra Court.
‘I strongly believe he’s responsible for both those girls’ demise and for all I know there may be other victims out there.
‘When he was interviewed back in 2001, he told me, “There’s some things I haven’t been caught for”.
‘It may well be that he’s referring to those or other victims.
‘There’s no doubt about it: John Cannan is a serial sex offender and a convicted murderer.’
Canaan was handed a life sentence in 1989 for the murder of Shirley Banks, 29, of Bristol, in 1987.
Before that, he was also convicted of raping a woman in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, and he is suspected of having carried out a number of other sex attacks.
Cold case: The disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh in July, 1986
Ms Lamplugh went missing on a summer’s night in West London back when Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach was top of the UK charts.
The estate agent had gone to meet a ‘Mr Kipper’ to show him around a house in Shorrolds Road, Fulham.
After her disappearance, her white Ford Fiesta was found outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road, about a mile and a half away.
The doors were unlocked, the handbrake was off and her purse was found in a side door pocket.
A photofit of ‘Mr Kipper’ was released, but police did not name Cannan as the prime suspect in Ms Lamplugh’s disappearance and murder until 2002.
However, the CPS said there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
Detectives have not given up the case, conducting a series of digs in search of the body including in Worcestershire just three years ago.
The year before, in 2018, the garden at Cannan’s mum’s previous home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, was searched.
Cannan was eventually arrested for the murder of Shirley Banks, 29, in 1987. He was convicted and given three life sentences for her abduction and murder in a case that had eerie parallels to Suzy’s.
His whole life tariff was later reduced to a 35-year minimum sentence.
In 2019, as police were still searching for Suzy’s body and his health was failing, Cannan again denied any knowledge of the 25-year-old’s fate, blaming the police for scapegoating him and seeking to undermine his parole prospects.
By then Cannan was suffering from partial paralysis and needed to use a wheelchair following a stroke.
Retired Det Supt Jim Dickie, who spent six years investigating Suzy’s abduction, said: ‘Cannan is still a suspect for the disappearance and murder of Suzy Lamplugh.
‘He’s extremely manipulative and must not be trusted.’
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