The police case seems to be that JC was oiling up to SJL, equipping himself with props such as a BMW and a reasonable suit, and misrepping himself as a successful business person having probably chatted her up in some Fulham wine bar. They presumably connect this with her remarks to relatives that someone was putting pressure on her. The proof of all this is that his nickname in jail was supposedly Kipper, and the number plate he put on SB's car, and he looks like the e-fit although was never on any identity parade, and the houses for sale rapist, and his former mate snitched on him and said he had access to a red Sierra and a BMW. That's about it.
Problem is, the CPS said that the police have produced no evidence JC and SJL ever met. If they can't prove they ever met this all falls to bits and must all be hearsay. You can't put someone in the dock on the basis of hearsay.
Cannan's no doubt a plausible suspect but my issue with him is threefold. One, there are literally hundreds of other equally plausible suspects. A hundred rapists had been released from the three local prisons that year. About 4,000 rapists a year were being jailed at that time, when London had 13% of the UK population. So every year, over 500 active rapists from London were jailed, and GOK how many more were out there, still uncaught. Have they all been eliminated? Why can't SJL have fallen victim to one of them?
Two, if we look at how JC came into the frame, it wasn't off solid evidence but via DL. He was looked at around the time of his conviction for SB's murder and it went no further. A microwave repair man who worked with prisoners revived this idea in 2000 and sold it to DL, who was probably suffering from early dementia and demanded that the police do JC for it.
Three, if we look at how JD reinvestigated the case, he told DV that the suspect list was all the previous names plus JC. They re-eliminated all the previous names, which left Cannan, therefore it must have been Cannan. It was that rigorous. The quality of the case against him that's been made public is so poor it's discreditable to the police IMO.
The upshot was that the police couldn't show JC and SJL ever met, the CPS rejected the case, the police then huffily said JC's the only suspect anyway, and this made DL happy.
