UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #2

[Fate--]

Post above.

 

[Konstantin]

I just wanted to talk about this £3,000 for a mo. In the late 80s, 89 I think, a good mate of mine was briefly an estate agent in West London. He described it as a pretty cut throat line of work because essentially you were always at risk of being done over by your colleagues. He had certain buyers who were assigned to him on registration of their interest, and the aim was for it to be his buyer whose bid for a property was accepted. That was what earned commission. His colleagues of course wanted their buyer to be the one the vendor proceeded with, so these estate agents were constantly winding their buyers up to gazump a colleague's buyer even after a sale had been agreed. He had sales targets which were to obtain so many exchanges of contract a quarter, and he got paid when the sales actually completed and money was paid over.

The commission rate charged by the agency was 2.25% and the negotiator whose buyer "won" got 15% of that. This was pretty typical as I recall. It is probably similar today except the agency commission rates vary more. The manager took 10% and the other 75% of what the vendor was charged went to pay the agency's overheads, partners etc. It would be the job of someone like MG to apportion buyers to negotiators, to decide which should be recommended to the vendor as best buyer, and to make sure SJL and her colleagues were hitting their targets.

Assuming SJL was on a similar structure then we can understand what she might have meant when she said she was "expecting" a £3,000 payout. On a normal vanilla house sale, she would be expecting her commission as soon as contracts had been exchanged, and she would actually get paid upon completion.

It's trivial to work out what value of house sale would have earned her £3,000. It would be an £888,888 house, because 2.25% of that is £20,000, and her 15% share of that £20,000 is £3,000. Right away, this tells us that her £3,000 was nothing to do with work. An £889k property then would be a very high end sale, and there is no way SJL, who had been an estate agent barely a year, would have been involved in anything of the kind. She would more likely have been involved with lower end buyers in the £80 to £200k mark, such as Shorrolds. Someone selling a property that valuable would have dealt with experienced senior members of staff, not a 25-year-old. I am handling a £2 million probate sale at the moment and it is being handled entirely by partner level staff.

The fact that nobody at Sturgis mentioned any high end sale at all that she might have been involved in points clearly to this being some private enterprise.

Do we have any inkling what this might have been about?

One possibility I can think of is that she would have had access to Sturgis' list of buyers. Agents were supposed to complete a card for each one setting out what they were looking for, price range, ource of funds, bids made, etc. This would form part of how MG would decide who was a more credible buyer. SJL would have had access to this, so one possibility that occurs to me is whether she was using Sturgis buyers to sell property on the side for people who had not instructed Sturgis? That is, someone says Hey Suze, I have this £200k house to sell but I don't want to pay an agent £5,000 for selling it - can you find me someone to buy it? So SJL says Sure, I know a few and I'd only charge you £3,000 for the introduction.

This is the only way I can see her making a one-off £3,000 whereby she knew it was coming (exchange had happened) but she had not yet had the dosh (payable on completion). At the price level of property she would ordinarily be involved with, she'd make more like £300 per, not £3,000.

She could still have made reasonable money. There were no punitive taxes on property dealing then, so volumes were far higher and she could have been collecting 30 commissions a year - maybe £15,000 on top of her basic, with the prospect of more as she was allowed to work on higher value houses.

The key to understanding this is who she knew and how: business partners, sex partners and of course anyone who was both. The circumstances in which she disappeared, like Claudia Lawrence, point to this happening at the hands of someone she knew and of whom she was not afraid

Yes I think this is an excellent line of thinking.

remember that Suzy had had a massive row that day with her colleague over whether his or her client would get to purchase a house they’d both bid on.
I think it’s very plausible Suzy might have been doing deals on the side and her lunchtime appointment might have been related and in that case she didn’t go to shorrolds.

 

[Crusader21]

It was reported in the press at the time, that the police were actually looking at the possibility that SL was handling her own private house sales.

Investigations centered on house sales that were a form of money laundering. With criminals buying property with 'dirty' money, thus gaining 'clean' assets ...

 

[Konstantin]

It was reported in the press at the time, that the police were actually looking at the possibility that SL was handling her own private house sales.

Investigations centered on house sales that were a form of money laundering. With criminals buying property with 'dirty' money, thus gaining 'clean' assets ...

So they must have investigated that line of inquiry for a reason

AS doesn’t mention it I think but if not why not.
Was this dropped for lack of any evidence or because of pressure from DL to not imply anything dodgy regarding her daughter?

could SJL who AS did strongly paint as a social climber who was moving into a new wealthier set of friends have been persuaded into something that got her in over her head?

that opens up the possibility that others around her who suspected after the fact might be a bit scared of letting too much out or hinting at it in case someone comes after them.
SJL seemed in a very good mood the day she went missing though not frightened or stressed according to her colleagues. Although she’d had a big row with one of them so I’m a bit sceptical of the good mood reports

 

[WestLondoner]

One thing that occurs to me is that if SJL were confronted at the pub by this couple or the man, and he figured she owed him money, he could have made her drive him to his bank and wait while he put an express clear on the cheque so he would have funds that day.

This would explain the BW sighting where she was seen driving north at 2.45 wit a man in her car. If this was the man who intercepted her at the pub, he'd presumably want to be taken back there to collect his own car. At this point DV's accident occurs, and to use DV's words:

...it would have been incumbent upon whoever knew what had befallen her there to move her car. The white Ford Fiesta belonging to Sturgis would have been, after all, a huge red flag as to her final destination...using the car keys they’ve taken from Suzy, they drive the white Ford Fiesta north over the river...The effect of moving the car had a huge impact on the subsequent police investigations....Whoever moved the car was thinking on their feet. As they drove Suzy’s car...looking for somewhere to abandon it, they happened across a house with a Sturgis board outside....whoever moved Suzy’s car, and dumped it opposite another Sturgis house for sale, knew she worked for Sturgis because her car key, taken from her and used to move her vehicle, was attached to a bright yellow Sturgis key fob (pp. 306-307).​

And there is a sighting of someone in that area, possibly the same person "thinking on his feet", saying he'd seen a "right ruck" in the street where her car was found.

I didn't know, till I came here, that CV is not CV's name. If DV feels he needs to alter his name, he can also alter the description he gives. What if his description of him as "A short, stout man...with bloodshot, bulging eyes...a bushy, unkempt moustache and a wild mane of white hair" is another DV red herring, like his name? What if he actually looked "about 40 with dark hair and a greying beard and moustache. He wore dark trousers and a blue and white T-shirt", per LSW's post above and the Crimewatch reconstruction?

 

[EyeSpyU]

I just get the feeling his interview was to push more book sales before Christmas.


If he genuinely believes she is buried in the pub then he needs to stop wasting time as wittiness’s are getting older and just do a “Go Fund Me” and then push forward with what he knows. But he doesn’t seem to me in any rush to do anything at all and the question is why?!


He is so vague on stuff which doesn’t help anybody. I know he is afraid of being sued but if he generally wants justice then he should push forward and get the ball rolling as he claims the police have told him the case was botched so turn to the media and get them to put pressure on the met.


MOO

I’ve only just found this thread and am reading through it, but I’ve read much about the SL case over the years.

The first point I’d like to say is that I agree DV seems to be pushing his book very much so. Besides that, he hasn’t really said anything of relevance in his book that’s new or groundbreaking. It’s all hypothesis.

He has no proof on anything and pads his book out with unnecessary titbits of little consequence.

However, I do think more focus should have been put on the PoW at the very beginning, even if to rule out the person DV won’t name - even though everyone knows who he’s referring to…

As for digging up the cellar to see if Suzy’s remains are beneath it, where DV gets the cost of £500k is ridiculous.

The average cost today of digging up concrete from a cellar in the UK is approximately £50 per square metre.

Cost of a skip to remove rubble is around £300.

Then replacing and pouring concrete starts from around £90 per metre sq.

Total cost would be just a few thousand pounds. So why is DV saying it would cost £500k? That’s ludicrous.

Further, it’s not unheard of for people do have dug out cellars/patios etc and found bones. You don’t need permission from the police to dig a floor up, and if the owners of the PoW agree to it, then they could have it dug up with a week. If human remains were found they could call he police and they’d easily be able to establish by DNA if it was Suzy.

If DV is so convinced Suzy is buried in the cellar he’d do that…she may well be there. And if she isn’t, then his hypothesis can be crossed off. Id certainly dig it up as I definitely think it’s worth looking at!

 

[EyeSpyU]

From a forensic point of view it’s vital that the burial site is not disturbed, when asked the question “will the media coverage result in the site being disturbed” he said no.
On this basis I don’t believe SJL is in the cellar of the PoW, and where she is can not be easily accessed by the public.
I agree crowd funding is an option and DV did say he would consider this if the police took no action.
Regarding the obstacles the police placed in front of DV regards to what he needed to provide to get them to action his case file.
They are all designed to be things that can’t be overcome, look at the Mets history when it comes to admitting their mistakes, they just don’t.
If the then Home Secretary and an 8 year inquiry (Watch Murder in the Car Park) can’t achieve this, DV has no chance.
I honestly believe DV is doing his level best to get the police on side in a diplomatic way, to those of us who want to see a quick result, it’s frustrating.

I listened to the podcast last night and DV said he believes Suzy is buried in the cellar of the PoW. He said it towards the end. He also said he’d taken a photograph of the exact part of the cellar he believes she’s buried under.

I think it’s a great possibility she is there, but how the perpetrator managed to dig the concrete up without anyone hearing him is anyones guess…

I do know that landlords have to be on site of the pub 24 hours (or have someone else on site while they’re out), so it’s possible that if someone there did kill Suzy and hid her body in the cellar, they waited until the early hours and buried her beneath the concrete when no one else was there.

 

[EyeSpyU]

So we have a Mexican standoff.

The police want witnesses and a motive before they'll abandon their JC theory and search the pub, but that's not going to happen exactly because they ignored it 35 years ago in favour of pursuing the fictitious Mr Kipper.

DV needs the pub searched because he needs to find and forensicate her, because A N Other's DNA will confirm the motive.

Total impasse unless he can crowdfund this.

I understand that the police want more than conjecture to start digging up the cellar in the PoW, but just as the police had no incriminating evidence that JC abducted and murdered Suzy, nor motive, nor witnesses, they still dug up JC’s mother’s garden not so long ago…so why won’t they did up the cellar in the PoW?

Don’t forget, the investigating officers and Met Police who made these decisions 35 years ago and then again around 20 years ago are either mostly retired now, or dead. Their decision back then is no reflection on the the police force of today. If anything, the Met Police could show everyone how much more thorough they are now by being proactive and digging the cellar up. The monetary cost would be minimal and prove whether or not Suzy is indeed there.

 

[WestLondoner]

As for digging up the cellar to see if Suzy’s remains are beneath it, where DV gets the cost of £500k is ridiculous.

The average cost today of digging up concrete from a cellar in the UK is approximately £50 per square metre.

Cost of a skip to remove rubble is around £300.

Then replacing and pouring concrete starts from around £90 per metre sq.

Total cost would be just a few thousand pounds.

He's not talking about digging a hole in any old floor. He's talking about preservation of evidence, which would mean photographing the whole process, keeping and labelling everything removed, forensicating anything found, storing everything, and so on, all without introducing contamination by the investigators. If it comes to the crunch someone has to be able to produce this in court without the process having compromised what's found.

how the perpetrator managed to dig the concrete up without anyone hearing him is anyones guess…

He didn't. She's in a crawl space under a suspended floor.

they still dug up JC’s mother’s garden not so long ago…so why won’t they did up the cellar in the PoW?

Because they would look foolish if she's there when they've been insisting for 20 years JC did it.

Don’t forget, the investigating officers and Met Police who made these decisions 35 years ago and then again around 20 years ago are either mostly retired now, or dead.

If you read the book they're still dying in a ditch defending that theory. If they search the pub, even if they don't find her it will show they think it's at least possible that they checked the whole thing up from day 1. That possibilty's something they just will not admit.

 

[Henry B]

Was Environmental Health called in during the blow fly infestation in 1986 at the PoW? I imagine the smell must have been very strong if there was a decomposing body under a suspended floor - and this is a public house we're talking about.

 

[EyeSpyU]

Well, there is. It could be that he intended to not to kidnap but to confront her, eg over money or some other issue (cf the story she told her uncle about someone pressuring her). But she has been vague about when she would be going there. Right away, that afternoon, that evening - not clear. This caller thus needed to know when she was expected there, so that he could be waiting for her.

He's organised the loss and retrieval of her diary, but also her cheque book. This inference is unavoidable given what we know. Only she, the pub, and the bank staff knew where her stuff was. How else can he know the fact and place she's mislaid them, unless he heard it from someone at the pub?

So he intends to ambush her there, and demand she write him a cheque, right there on the spot, for the money he thinks he's owed (someone AS mentions was bankrupted a week later). She can't say she doesn't have the cheque book, because she does. Or rather, the pub does.

Thus nobody intended her harm. What someone wanted was money, she'd been avoiding meeting that someone, so he / they set her up to be surprised at the pub.


As related in DV, no, he doesn't, nor does he have the right opportunity. But if he is an associate of the other man / couple, maybe he lifted the cheque book for them, and / or has agreed to keep her there when she comes for it. CV in real life is not short and dumpy; he's over 6 feet and capable of overpowering SJL. Maybe she is killed when he physically restrains her from leaving: DV's accident hypothesis - panic attack while locked into a cellar, for example.

The key point in this is that nobody ever intended to kill her. At most someone desperate for money, who felt she'd turned him over, wanted to intimidate her into writing a cheque. If harm were intended, no way would the woman have phoned and left a phone number. She'd only do that if she had legitimate intentions ('Then I got a phone call about two o’clock from a woman, saying, “If she comes, tell her you can’t find ’em and give us a ring,” ’ p165)

This account then ties quite a few points together.

• It fits with the account she gave her uncle of a troublesome man.
• It explains why someone might have been desperate enough for money to confront her.
• It fits with the DV theory that she didn't go to Shorrolds.
• It fits with the cabbie sighting of someone who looked like James Galway (CV) one street from Stevenage Road, who said he'd seen a couple 'having a right ruck' - this relocates where harm came to her away from the pub, and to where the car was dumped.
• This happened at maybe 3 or 4 o'clock; late enough for the BT workers not to have seen the car ditched, and late enough for her body to have been hidden first.
• It explains the calls to the pub, some of which were not to/from CV but rather the landlord, his wife, etc.
• The fact of SJL's death would mean murder would be a possibility, with all three knowledgeable parties in the frame as either perps or accessories; so all three would keep it quiet.
• It explains why CV's appalled ex dumped him - she was the fourth person around but not involved; she'd worked out what happened and where SJL really was instead of Shorrolds.
• It explains why CV instantly remembered stuff DV had not raised. You'd remember the day you killed someone all your life.

Of course there's no conclusive evidence, and some evidence contradicts this, like with every other hypothesis. But if a search of the pub turned up her body, and DNA linking her to CV...well, that's where DV has got to.

Well, there is. It could be that he intended to not to kidnap but to confront her, eg over money or some other issue (cf the story she told her uncle about someone pressuring her). But she has been vague about when she would be going there. Right away, that afternoon, that evening - not clear. This caller thus needed to know when she was expected there, so that he could be waiting for her.

He's organised the loss and retrieval of her diary, but also her cheque book. This inference is unavoidable given what we know. Only she, the pub, and the bank staff knew where her stuff was. How else can he know the fact and place she's mislaid them, unless he heard it from someone at the pub?

So he intends to ambush her there, and demand she write him a cheque, right there on the spot, for the money he thinks he's owed (someone AS mentions was bankrupted a week later). She can't say she doesn't have the cheque book, because she does. Or rather, the pub does.

Thus nobody intended her harm. What someone wanted was money, she'd been avoiding meeting that someone, so he / they set her up to be surprised at the pub.


As related in DV, no, he doesn't, nor does he have the right opportunity. But if he is an associate of the other man / couple, maybe he lifted the cheque book for them, and / or has agreed to keep her there when she comes for it. CV in real life is not short and dumpy; he's over 6 feet and capable of overpowering SJL. Maybe she is killed when he physically restrains her from leaving: DV's accident hypothesis - panic attack while locked into a cellar, for example.

The key point in this is that nobody ever intended to kill her. At most someone desperate for money, who felt she'd turned him over, wanted to intimidate her into writing a cheque. If harm were intended, no way would the woman have phoned and left a phone number. She'd only do that if she had legitimate intentions ('Then I got a phone call about two o’clock from a woman, saying, “If she comes, tell her you can’t find ’em and give us a ring,” ’ p165)

This account then ties quite a few points together.

• It fits with the account she gave her uncle of a troublesome man.
• It explains why someone might have been desperate enough for money to confront her.
• It fits with the DV theory that she didn't go to Shorrolds.
• It fits with the cabbie sighting of someone who looked like James Galway (CV) one street from Stevenage Road, who said he'd seen a couple 'having a right ruck' - this relocates where harm came to her away from the pub, and to where the car was dumped.
• This happened at maybe 3 or 4 o'clock; late enough for the BT workers not to have seen the car ditched, and late enough for her body to have been hidden first.
• It explains the calls to the pub, some of which were not to/from CV but rather the landlord, his wife, etc.
• The fact of SJL's death would mean murder would be a possibility, with all three knowledgeable parties in the frame as either perps or accessories; so all three would keep it quiet.
• It explains why CV's appalled ex dumped him - she was the fourth person around but not involved; she'd worked out what happened and where SJL really was instead of Shorrolds.
• It explains why CV instantly remembered stuff DV had not raised. You'd remember the day you killed someone all your life.

Of course there's no conclusive evidence, and some evidence contradicts this, like with every other hypothesis. But if a search of the pub turned up her body, and DNA linking her to CV...well, that's where DV has got to.

I can’t why anyone would go to such convoluted lengths to ambush Suzy. If she did owe anyone money - and there’s never been a suggestion she did - that person would have known her well. They’d have known her name, her place of work, home address, and telephone numbers. There’s be absolutely no need to lure her into a public place.

Secondly, going by what’s been reported, Suzy wasn’t “rolling in money”, so how much could anyone have expected to demand off her?

Finally, they’d have to be a tad dense if it didn’t occur to them that Suzy would have phoned her bank and cancelled her cheque book as soon as she realised it was missing…

That cheque book was worthless and no cheques would have been honoured, so the likelihood of an extortionist demanding money from her; forcing her to go to the bank with them and write a cheque out would be utterly pointless. What’s more, there were no cheques put through Suzy’s bank after her disappearance, so that can be totally discounted.

 

[Crusader21]

I've always thought the current DV narrative concerning the whereabouts of SL's remains, is absolute dynamite for any aspiring TV production company.

Smallish outlay (by TV standards), could land a batch of awards, acollades etc if her remains where found.

Interesting viewing here - Fred and Rose West: Reopened - Watch episodes

 

[EyeSpyU]

He's not talking about digging a hole in any old floor. He's talking about preservation of evidence, which would mean photographing the whole process, keeping and labelling everything removed, forensicating anything found, storing everything, and so on, all without introducing contamination by the investigators. If it comes to the crunch someone has to be able to produce this in court without the process having compromised what's found.






He didn't. She's in a crawl space under a suspended floor.



Because they would look foolish if she's there when they've been insisting for 20 years JC did it.



If you read the book they're still dying in a ditch defending that theory. If they search the pub, even if they don't find her it will show they think it's at least possible that they checked the whole thing up from day 1. That possibilty's something they just will not admit.

I understand that if Suzy’s remains are found underneath the cellar floor, then they will need to seal the area off and treat it as a crime scene. And I know DV can’t do that.

But if DV himself, or others, remove the floor and see signs of human remains then obviously they’ll call police who will take over. It’s quite straightforward, surely? Bodies have been discovered before, and as soon as they are the police are called and simply take over.

I didn’t realise DV believes Suzy is buried beneath a suspended floor…that makes the whole process even easier and far less costly.

As for the police looking foolish if Suzy is found in the PoW, I don’t see how that reflects on them now, as the previous investigating team are either retired or dead.

 

[Crusader21]

One thing that occurs to me is that if SJL were confronted at the pub by this couple or the man, and he figured she owed him money, he could have made her drive him to his bank....

This would explain the BW sighting where she was seen driving north at 2.45 wit a man in her car. If this was the man who intercepted her at the pub.....

That's a quite brilliant line of thinking WL! I bet that potential scenario hasn't even crossed DVs mind!

Such a liaison would have seen this man put pressure on SL to drive to her bank.

May SL had little choice, but probably reconciled herself that she'd square things up at Sturgis, upon eventually returning to office.

Of course SL never reached bank. It does put the focus now onto the top of Fulham Palace Road / south of Hammersmith and not far from where her car was eventually found.

Do we know with whom SL banked with? And which branch was nearest / she'd have likely used?

 

[EyeSpyU]

Was Environmental Health called in during the blow fly infestation in 1986 at the PoW? I imagine the smell must have been very strong if there was a decomposing body under a suspended floor - and this is a public house we're talking about.

I’ve no idea, but to have an infestation of blowflies suggests there’s more than simply sloppy hygiene in the kitchens. Stranger still, August 1986 was one of the wettest and coldest Augusts on record in the UK, so that makes it even more unlikely to have a serious infestation of blowflies…

 

[EyeSpyU]

That's a quite brilliant line of thinking WL! I bet that potential scenario hasn't even crossed DVs mind!

Such a liaison would have seen this man put pressure on SL to drive to her bank.

May SL had little choice, but probably reconciled herself that she'd square things up at Sturgis, upon eventually returning to office.

Of course SL never reached bank. It does put the focus now onto the top of Fulham Palace Road / south of Hammersmith and not far from where her car was eventually found.

Do we know with whom SL banked with? And which branch was nearest / she'd have likely used?

If someone put pressure on Suzy to drive them to the bank, why didn’t they get there? And why didn’t it occur to the person who’d effectively kidnapped her that the cheque book would now be useless?

And why wouldn’t Suzy have been spotted in the bank? Why was there no cheque presented? Why no CCTV? Banks did have cameras in the 1980s…

I believe Suzy’s friend, BW, did indeed spot a white car on that day and at that time, and I believe she thought it was Suzy - but I believe she was mistaken. It wasn’t Suzy at all. There were hundreds of white Ford cars back then, and Barbara admitted that “Suzy” had her face turned towards the passenger - so she didn’t really see her face properly. She just thought it was Suzy, that’s all.

Also, Suzy had bleached her hair with blonde highlights on the previous Friday, so you can safely assume that the woman driving that white car had the same colour hair Suzy’s was prior to her having had it bleached blonder just three days previously.

 

[EyeSpyU]

Someone asked if DV had seen Suzy’s personal diary, and my understanding is that the police still have it in their keeping.

I wonder why they haven’t released Suzy’s belongings, albeit just the diary, cheque book and chequebook to her family?

Whatever, what we can deduce from that is there’s absolutely nothing whatsoever in Suzy’s entries that mentions JC in any way whatsoever. If there was, the police would have proof she knew of him.

So at least that throws the wild rumour out the water that the man from Bristol who it was rumoured Suzy had once been seeing was not JC.

 

[WestLondoner]

I can’t why anyone would go to such convoluted lengths to ambush Suzy. If she did owe anyone money - and there’s never been a suggestion she did - that person would have known her well. They’d have known her name, her place of work, home address, and telephone numbers. There’s be absolutely no need to lure her into a public place.

According to AS, SJL was at one point supposed to be going into business with a friend and her husband, but she lost interest, perhaps because she envisaged making better money as an estate agent. Money had been spent on the intended venture and SJL then started avoiding this couple. At the same time she reported to her uncle that she being hassled by someone. Just after she disappeared, 8 days after in fact, the husband was declared bankrupt.

My conjecture is that on 28 July, this man is right on the edge and has blown money on something which now can't proceed, thanks to SJL. She's been avoiding him and his wife, so he tricks her into going somewhere he can confront her and demand off her the money she's made him waste.

There is evidence for the venture and someone hassling her. There is evidence from the police that she was remarkably successful at handling money to the point where they even wondered if she might be on the game. The conversation she had with someone on the Saturday, where she said she was expecting a £3,000 "commission", points to some other income stream. If she never went to Shorrolds, as seems likely, then whatever happened must have happened at the only other place she had a need to be headed for.

The BE sighting is challenging to fit into any timeline because it means SJL's car was seen in two places at once: in Stevenage Road and in the Fulham Palace Road, at 2.45. Either one sighting is wrong or both are. If BW is correct I can't think of any other course of events that fits.

The last photo of SJL was taken on Saturday, which was the day she had her hair highlighted. In it she is not especially blonde.

 

[EyeSpyU]

I’m trying to catch up with the facts, but having read just some of DV’s book I’m slightly confused about the time Suzy’s company car was first spotted parked in Stevenage Road. Does anyone know?

I know WJ said she first noticed it at 12:45pm, but that doesn’t add up if Suzy drove to the PoW. The taxi driver said he saw it there at approx 2:30pm, and the garages owner saw it at about 17:00, so if WJ was mistaken on the time she first saw the car parked there, it sounds likely that Suzy drive to the PoW at 12:45pm.

Assuming the taxi driver was correct on times, that makes much more sense.

Whoever drove her car to Stevenage Road wanted to be as quiet as possible; hence why they didn’t even apply the handbrake. I suspect they spotted the space and then switched the engine off, steered it silently into the kerb so as not to make any noise, then slipped out the door before scurrying off quickly.

Was the driver’s door firmly shut, does anyone know?

 

[WestLondoner]

I wonder why they haven’t released Suzy’s belongings, albeit just the diary, cheque book and chequebook to her family?

They're evidence in a live investigation, I guess.

Whatever, what we can deduce from that is there’s absolutely nothing whatsoever in Suzy’s entries that mentions JC in any way whatsoever. If there was, the police would have proof she knew of him.

Probably there are contacts in there they never traced. Obviously one of those is JC, Yer Honour. If they had traced everyone and none was JC, it would knacker their theory. Probably they are holding onto the hope that as JC was a pre-release lag until 25 July, he would have had no phone number he could give out, so wouldn't be in the diary anyway. Or something.

The problem with the police is that as they see it, this one fits JC like a glove, so little problems like his not being in the diary can just be overlooked.

So at least that throws the wild rumour out the water that the man from Bristol who it was rumoured Suzy had once been seeing was not JC.

Well also of course JC wasn't from Bristol anyway, he was from Sutton Coldfield. He moved to Bristol later but the conversation SJL had about a man from Bristol was with a customer at Joan Price's Face Place in 1984 - when he still was banged up.

There were a number of made-up sightings involving a black BMW too. JC didn't acquire any black BMW until 1987 so the people claiming to have seen him in one in 1986 were clearly embellishing the police account.