Suzy Lamplugh’s killer could be caught if new forensic techniques are used on a mystery DNA fingerprint found on her car’s rear view mirror, a former detective has said.
Ex Detective Supt Jim Dickie said a tiny sample was taken from a smudged print on the white Ford Fiesta after the 25-year-old’s disappearance – and now technology may be able to extract a profile, after failing to do so 22 years ago.
Suzy Lamplugh, 25, went missing in Fulham, West London, in July 1986 – and her body has never been found, even after three decades of searching.
Mr Dickie said: ‘I am unaware if the DNA sample from the fingerprint has been progressed and whether there is sufficient to test it without destroying it.
‘My advice from the experts was scientific advances may improve sometime in the future and DNA science may develop to enable testing without destroying it.
‘I am unaware if this is still the case or a review and test have taken place and if so what the result was.
Suzy Lamplugh, 25, went missing in Fulham, West, in July 1986 ad her body has never been found – but a fingerprint sample taken from her car may unlock a key if modern technology is used, a former detective said
Suzy’s company car (pictured) was found after she went missing outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road. The doors were unlocked, the handbrake was off and her purse was found in a side door pocket
‘Certainly up to two to three years ago this had not taken place.’
The sample on the company car that the estate agent drove to meet ‘Mr Kipper’ did not match a profile when detectives tried to extract one in 2000.
But new technology may be used to find a match and find the woman’s killer, while the prime suspect John Cannan is currently on his death bed in prison.
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘Our investigation into the disappearance and murder of Suzy Lamplugh is ongoing, and detectives remain committed to securing justice for her family.’
Cannan, 68, who is already serving 35 years in prison for a separate murder, was named as the prime suspect by police 20 years ago.
But he has always denied any involvement in Suzy’s murder, even as he receives end-of-life palliative care in Full Sutton jail, East Yorks.
Suzy went missing on a summers night in West London back when Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach was top of the UK charts.
John Cannan, 68, (pictured) became the prime suspect in the case in 2002. He is currently on his death bed in prison and denies the allegations
Suzy went missing on a summers 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 Suzy’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 in Worcestershire just three years ago.
Former detective superintendent Jim Dickie (pictured) was told in 2000 that modern technology may be able to extract a profile from the fingerprint
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.’
In a previous interview, Suzy’s brother Richard added: ‘If he’s done it then I would like him to tell us her whereabouts and we can then bury her where we want to bury her, rather than where whoever killed her has buried her.
‘We’ve been through so many developments you don’t get your hopes up.’
He said: ‘Our investigation into the disappearance and murder of Suzy Lamplugh is ongoing, and detectives remain committed to securing justice for her family.’
