The main suspect in the murder of real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh is on his deathbed in an East Yorkshire prison.
Reports suggest that John Cannan, 68, is receiving end-of-life palliative care at Full Sutton Prison near Pocklington. Police named him the prime suspect in the disappearance of 25-year-old Suzy in Fulham, west London, in July 1986.
He is serving a life sentence for another murder and has always denied any connection to Suzy’s case. Suzy’s family, whose body has never been discovered, is now waiting for Cannan to finally reveal what happened to him before he died, reports the Mirror.
Read more: Convicted killer suspected of Suzy Lamplugh’s murder could be released from HMP Full Sutton
Cannan has been suffering from health problems for several years, but this year he would have been eligible for parole. Suzy’s brother, Richard, was unaware of his medical condition, but urged him to reveal the truth before he died.
He told the Mirror, “I wish Cannan, if he knew, would tell us what happened to Suze. After all these years, I’d like him to finally tell us what happened. It would mean a lot to the family.” .
Suzy disappeared after meeting a “Mr Kipper”, of whom a photo was later posted, to show her a house on Shorrolds Road, Fulham. His white Ford Fiesta was later found outside a property for sale on Stevenage Road a mile away.
The doors were unlocked, the parking brake was turned off and his bag was found in the side door pocket. In 2002, police finally named Cannan as the prime suspect in Suzy’s disappearance and murder. But the CPS said there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. Officers have carried out a number of excavations in recent years for Suzy’s body, including in Worcestershire in 2019.
HMP Full Sutton Prison, near Pocklington (Image: jaharland)
In 2018, the garden of Cannan’s mother’s former home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham was also searched. The former car salesman was sentenced to three life sentences for kidnapping and murdering 29-year-old Shirley Banks in 1987. Cannan was paid a life sentence, which was later reduced to a minimum of 35 years. . In 2019, Cannan spoke to the Sunday Mirror in a phone call from his cell before a previous parole offer.
He said: “I had no involvement in Suzy Lamplugh’s disappearance. I am concerned that the police are using Suzy’s disappearance to undermine my prospects for parole. My concern is that defamation has become rule, not the exception “.
At the time, Cannan also revealed that he was suffering from partial paralysis and needed to use a wheelchair after a stroke. He stated that the Met was “determined to use me as a convenient peg to hang the disappearance.”
Retired supervisor Jim Dickie, who spent six years investigating Suzy’s abduction, said: “Cannan is still a suspect in Suzy Lamplugh’s disappearance and murder. He is extremely manipulative and should not be trusted.”
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