UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #3

[WestLondoner]

it’s still someone local who knew her well enough to plan it all out and they likely didn’t drive far.

This is borne out by where her car was found. She left the office at 12.40 and the earliest reasonably credible sighting of her car was 2pm by a cabbie. Wherever the car went it was there and back at Stevenage within as little as 80 minutes. I actually reckon it was later, because not even the 2pm cabbie sighting is that convincing, but even if it was 5pm your conjecture still looks right. If the car had been driven west for an hour what killer is going to drive it back again to get rid of it? Tough to understand anyone doing that.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The Pub they would of lived in , that’s why they liked married couples I think. It made life easier for all involved.

That’s always been my assumption but does any know / recall if it’s a fact? There’s often such a lot of rooms above pubs including guest bedrooms or rooms to let. Also bar / kitchen staff can sometimes get given a cheap or free room. On the other hand, if it was the full time home of the regular managers, perhaps they wouldn’t have wanted relief staff occupying their space.

 

[WestLondoner]

What did the police do with the car? At the time? How forensically did they examine it? Why didn’t they keep a hold of it?

It was a fiasco! They fingerprinted it but they also drove it around, used it as a prop in the reconstruction etc.

If you search for B396 GAN at GOV.UK - Enter the registration number of the vehicle, you find it was taxed until 1 August 1990, four years later. I don't know how accurate those results are from so long ago, but if that is correct, then the car was presumably still being driven around on the roads for another four years, otherwise why would you tax it?

Astonishing way to treat the only surefire crime scene. I would guess they still have it.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Penny Bell and SJL fought for the steering wheel and yet SJL didn't fight for the wheel when BW saw her driving the white fiesta along Fulham Palace Rd.

 

[Terryb808]

It was a fiasco! They fingerprinted it but they also drove it around, used it as a prop in the reconstruction etc.

If you search for B396 GAN at GOV.UK - Enter the registration number of the vehicle, you find it was taxed until 1 August 1990, four years later. I don't know how accurate those results are from so long ago, but if that is correct, then the car was presumably still being driven around on the roads for another four years, otherwise why would you tax it?

Astonishing way to treat the only surefire crime scene. I would guess they still have it.

Certainly means it’s useless as evidence, with the benefit of hindsight dealing it up would possibly have provided evidence as forensics advanced.
With small crime scene objects this has definitely been the case and the forensic evidence has secured a conviction.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I know the car seat was pushed back but to what extent was it pushed back to prove indisputably that SJL couldn’t be the driver? Maybe if it was a shared / pooled car she had got used to driving it with the seat further back?

Is it in any way possible SJL herself pulled the car up and fled it? At which point she must have been overcome in the street by the perpetrator and taken somewhere very close by.

I know I’m covering old ground here but there’s so many people with different ideas it’s good to hear them.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

This is borne out by where her car was found. She left the office at 12.40 and the earliest reasonably credible sighting of her car was 2pm by a cabbie. Wherever the car went it was there and back at Stevenage within as little as 80 minutes. I actually reckon it was later, because not even the 2pm cabbie sighting is that convincing, but even if it was 5pm your conjecture still looks right. If the car had been driven west for an hour what killer is going to drive it back again to get rid of it? Tough to understand anyone doing that.

The perpetrator would have to be reckless and careless to abduct SJL from the local area in her own vehicle in order to mortally harm her somewhere further away - or even accidentally killing her - then return back to the area in same vehicle. Unless they lived locally, weren’t thinking clearly, panicked, and had to be back in the area themselves or their own absence would be a riskier clue than the risk of using the car itself. But that doesn’t speak to an organised abduction perpetrated by someone who arranged in advance to meet her.

 

[asyousay]

I know the car seat was pushed back but to what extent was it pushed back to prove indisputably that SJL couldn’t be the driver? Maybe if it was a shared / pooled car she had got used to driving it with the seat further back?

Is it in any way possible SJL herself pulled the car up and fled it? At which point she must have been overcome in the street by the perpetrator and taken somewhere very close by.

I know I’m covering old ground here but there’s so many people with different ideas it’s good to hear them.

Being a girl it would be extremely uncomfortable to drive a car if the seat wasn’t close enough. It was a shared company car so you would assume they questioned the staff on how she would normally leave the car.

She doesn’t look that tall to me either from the photos.

 

[asyousay]

The one thing all these sightings prove ( even if only one sighting is correct) that she wasn’t at the POW.


IMO

 

[WestLondoner]

I know the car seat was pushed back but to what extent was it pushed back to prove indisputably that SJL couldn’t be the driver? Maybe if it was a shared / pooled car she had got used to driving it with the seat further back?

Is it in any way possible SJL herself pulled the car up and fled it? At which point she must have been overcome in the street by the perpetrator and taken somewhere very close by.

I know I’m covering old ground here but there’s so many people with different ideas it’s good to hear them.

The things that were odd about the car were the seat position, the handbrake being off, the purse in the door pocket, the passenger door being locked, the driver door being unlocked, and its being parked at a careless angle to the kerb overlapping a garage entrance. All this bespeaks haste. It's certainly possible that she could drive a car with the seat in the wrong position but it would surely have to depend how wrong. I literally can't fit into a car whose seat is positioned to suit Mrs WestLondoner. If she were dashing out of the car, perhaps pursued by her passenger, you have to wonder why he would then bother to lock the passenger door.

AS is quite good on this and describes what would have alternatively been required for SJL to have been dragged out of her car by a male passenger - across the driver's seat presumably given the locked passenger door.

It's a good one to bring up. Everything points to a short errand - not taking a handbag etc - meaning wherever she went was near enough that her car could be got to Stevenage perhaps as early as 2. Whoever did this worked fast.

 

[WestLondoner]

Being a girl it would be extremely uncomfortable to drive a car if the seat wasn’t close enough. It was a shared company car so you would assume they questioned the staff on how she would normally leave the car.

She doesn’t look that tall to me either from the photos.

Thanks, interesting. She was 5'6" I believe. That's a good height for a woman, not short not tall, but there are 6'2" blokes around - she would probably struggle if the seat were set to suit someone of that height.

The one thing all these sightings prove ( even if only one sighting is correct) that she wasn’t at the POW.

Agreed. If any of these is accurate, it puts her somewhere else at the time whatever happened happened.

 

[asyousay]

I have a question that I have actually never seen asked. Sorry if it comes across as stupid


Has it ever been suggested that more than one person was involved?



ETA

Just when you think of the logistics involved it came to mind.

 

[Terryb808]

We’re about to reach another year passing without a resolution and it occurred to me that Suzy Lamplugh (according to all accounts) lived her life to the full.
Given what has happened It’s nice to think that she did this.
Old saying “don’t put off til tomorrow what you can do today”. Couldn’t be more apt really.

 

[Terryb808]

I have a question that I have actually never seen asked. Sorry if it comes across as stupid


Has it ever been suggested that more than one person was involved?

I think many think it a distinct possibility, myself included, but I can’t recall it being discussed at any length.

 

[WestLondoner]

A mate of mine likes to say there are certain things nobody ever thinks on their death bed. I should have earned less money; I should have paid more tax; I should have had less fun; I should have had less sex; I shouldn't have travelled so widely; I should have been less ambitious; I should have had a worse relationship with my parents and family. Nobody ever says any of that to themselves and one can think of many others.

Susanna Jane Lamplugh, 3/5/61 - 28/7/86 (aged 25), can have had no regrets. RIP.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Is there an actual reference to Kelvedon Rd in the episode of Crimewatch 2000? Or has the author assumed that a road near Fulham Rd is probably Kelvedon Rd.

 

[WestLondoner]

The Wikipedia article on JC alludes to a series of unsolved sexual assaults carried out in the Midlands in the late 70s to 1980 in which a man went to houses that were listed for sale and attacked lone women owners. The article compares this MO to the SJL case, and argues that the link is JC, as he was living in Birmingham at the time.

This is all very well, but two obvious points arise. One is that this attacker assaulted the home owners, whereas 'Mr Kipper' apparently assaulted an estate agent. The other obvious point is the question of whether JC was ever put on an ID parade in front of any of the victims of those assaults. As written, it looks like a point against him, but for all we know, the Birmingham attacker was a fat six-foot Asian man. Putting the weedy 5'8" JC on an ID parade would then result in his elimination from being considered for any of those offences, which would knock away a plank of the circumstantial case against him.

The failure of the police to put him on any ID parade for any other offences is just bewildering - unless they knew perfectly well that to do so would undermine rather than reinforce their case.

JC is such a little weed I can't think how he'd overpower most women. He'd certainly need to be armed.

 

[Crusader21]

Is there an actual reference to Kelvedon Rd in the episode of Crimewatch 2000? Or has the author assumed that a road near Fulham Rd is probably Kelvedon Rd.

We'll need to track it down to know for , July 2000, there must be a copy somewhere!

 

[Crusader21]

I have a question that I have actually never seen asked. Sorry if it comes across as stupid


Has it ever been suggested that more than one person was involved?



ETA

Just when you think of the logistics involved it came to mind.

There was definitely press pieces back at the start when the police mentioned the possibility that 2 people were involved.

Two things come to mind. The recent link to one of the Railway Killing duo to James Galway.

And a statement made by Met just a year or two ago, along the lines if you are intimidated or harbouring someone it's not too late to come forward ....

 

[Crusader21]

Detective chief inspector Rebecca Reeves, the senior investigating officer, said: “We would urge anyone who believes they might know something about what happened to Suzy all those years ago to come forward.

“Whether you saw something that you thought was unconnected at the time or you felt under pressure to protect someone you knew – it is not too late.

Second paragraph. Does that possibly indicate a duo?