Lamplugh 'killer' named, but he will not face charges

Crucial evidence that could have led to the conviction of a rapist for the abduction and murder of Suzy Lamplugh was missed by the police, Scotland Yard admitted yesterday.

The Metropolitan Police said unless an important new witness came forward the man it believes killed the 25-year-old estate agent in July 1986 would never be brought to justice.

The force yesterday named John Cannan, 47, a convicted rapist who is serving life for abducting, raping and murdering Shirley Banks in Bristol in 1989, as the only suspect in the investigation.

A second inquiry into the Lamplugh murder uncovered evidence linking Cannan to the abduction, but without scientific evidence, a confession or the discovery of the body, the Crown Prosecution Service decided last month that any case against him was likely to fail.

The new police team has disclosed that the original inquiry missed or ignored potentially crucial clues in the months after Ms Lamplugh disappeared while showing a house in Fulham, west London, to a man calling himself Mr Kipper.

The case has become one of the most enduring in recent criminal history, but until yesterday the full extent of the links between Ms Lamplugh and Cannan were unpublished.

Four days before Ms Lamplugh went missing Cannan, whose nickname in jail was Kipper, was released after a conviction in 1981 for rape. He had been in a prison hostel in Wormwood Scrubs, near to where the estate agent was abducted. The first investigation by the Metropolitan Police treated the case as a missing persons inquiry and failed to find out the full details of sex offenders who were released from Wormwood Scrubs.

The police also failed to act on information provided by Ms Lamplugh's parents, who revealed that their daughter had been pestered or stalked by a man claiming he was a businessman from Bristol. This was the technique and storyline that Cannan had used for previous victims.

The police later discovered that in the months before the abduction Cannan had been out on day release and could have easily contacted the estate agent.

The police also released a photograph of Ms Lamplugh with dark hair, despite being told by the family that at the time of her disappearance she had dyed it blonde. There was a breakdown in relations between the police and the Lamplugh family, who believed their concerns were being ignored.

Witnesses also described a man who resembled Cannan. But he was not identified as a suspect until his conviction for the murder of Ms Banks, which had many similarities with the Lamplugh case.

Not until a new inquiry was set up in May 2000 were the police able to reinvestigate the case and identify more witnesses. Cannan was alleged to have boasted to a former girlfriend that he had raped and murdered Ms Lamplugh and buried her in the countryside. Despite several excavations police have been unable to find her. Cannan is one of 26 "lifer" inmates who the Home Secretary has said should never be released.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Dickie, one of the senior investigating officers, said yesterday: "I have dealt with enough serial murderers to know that he [Cannan] is one.

"We recommended that he should be charged. The CPS thought otherwise and we have to respect that view."

Questioned on the failings of the first inquiry, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bill Griffiths said: "It's about having poor systems, being overwhelmed with information and not seeing the key question."

Paul Lamplugh, Suzy's father, praised the new inquiry, but added: "We are greatly distressed and indeed considerably angered that after all these years it is still not possible to prosecute the person who both we and the police believe murdered Suzy."