UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #5

[Cluesleuth]

Interesting question. Annoyingly, as I’ve said long ago in previous threads, this is a decade before I lived down the road in Wandsworth and hung out at pretty much every pub between Putney and Clapham, including the PoW. I could give you chapter and verse on the culture and events of local pubs in the 90s. I will rack my brains and see if I can think of anyone I’m in touch with who might be able to help here.

From what we know already: the PoW had not long previously been made over, to get more up to speed with the era? My gut instinct is that it wouldn’t really have hosted events needing bouncers. There were actual nightclubs and rock pubs (like the Half Moon on Lower Richmond Road, to name just one) within walking distance.

That doesn’t mean that bouncers weren’t in the vicinity, though. Forgive me if I’m being presumptuous, but are you thinking about Bellfield, or dubious “security firms” more generally?

your help on this would be appreciated NP.
Im interested in looking at security workers/doormen in general.

 

[Crusader21]

Many facts have not been placed in the public domain and nor should they be. They remain confidential for good reason.....c'est la vie!

I take it that the police would have presented those 'facts' which have not been placed in the public domain, to the aforementioned CPS ....

And that file as we know, failed the test for prosecution ..... Mon Dieu!

 

[RichardKimble]

<modsnip>

The reality is that the overwhelming weight of circumstantial evidence, firmly demonstrates that JC is the ONLY suspect.

I suggest that had JC not already been safely serving a life sentence, but still walking the streets, then the CPS would have proffered charges for the abduction and murder of SJL and he would have been dealt with by means of trial.

The CPS assessed that a reasonable prospect of conviction on circumstantial evidence alone was insufficient, even though it carries significant weight.

If tried and found 'not guilty' or the jury/juries could not reach a verdict then JC could not have been tried for a second time without new and compelling evidence.

Whilst JC was locked away there was no need for the Crown to pursue a criminal trial, thereby necessitating them to disclose the evidence. There was hope of a later event which would take the likelihood of persuading a jury of his guilt to the next level.

Things are very often not quite what they seem.....but have different degrees of opaqueness and nuance.

The CPS have not said its not in the public interest to proceed, the CPS in 2002 said there is not enough evidence .

 

[WestLondoner]

I think it was in the C5 documentary they had a CPS lawyer talking who said the police had not provided any evidence that SJL and Cannan had ever met. And without that, nothing was going to happen.

This is exactly what we've all been saying here, 20 years after that. Speculation, opinion, hearsay, conjecture, retracted statements, and ludicrous, obviously-coached "witnesses" fourteen and more years after the fact don't add up to a case.

The case basically fails on its inbuilt bias. It's not enough to say Cannan did it because he (in some people's opinion) looks like the (possibly completely spurious) Kipper sketch, was a rapist, and lived five miles away. To prove that this was Cannan, you also have to prove that none of that is true of anyone else. As I've pointed out before, WS could have released 30 or more rapists that year. Are their movements accounted for? There are about 4,000 rape convictions a year and London has 20% of the population, so presumably 800 or so of those 4,000 offences happen in London; are their perpetrators' movements accounted for? - men not then known to be rapists, but subsequently convicted?

You can't just seize on one individual, present no evidence he ever met SJL, present no forensic evidence, fail even to identify a crime scene, and then say you've solved the case.

It's also quite disturbing that there appears to be an attempt to secure a conviction in the court of public opinion off material that's obviously inaccurate. For example, it's entered the canon that JC is Kipper because he had a black BMW and was from Bristol. In fact in 1986 Cannan had a red Sierra, the supposed BMW sighting in Shorrolds led nowhere, and he was from the Midlands. Then there's the insinuation in places like the Wikipedia article that Cannan was behind the house for sale rapes in the West Midlands. As we have noted here before, the WMP never expressed any interest in interviewing Cannan over those, and if he resembled that perp, we'd know about it. It is a very funny way of "proving" you've got your man.

 

[Crusader21]

I wonder was the highly-unusual 'Police Prime Suspect' press conference and police announcement over 20 years ago, in essence prompted by the political pressure that DL was placing upon the MET?

Perhaps the way to placate her? ....

 

[Cherwell]

It's not enough to say Cannan did it because he (in some people's opinion) looks like the (possibly completely spurious) Kipper sketch, was a rapist, and lived five miles away.

And because Suzy was never found, there is zero evidence that rape played any part in her fate.

 

[WestLondoner]

And because Suzy was never found, there is zero evidence that rape played any part in her fate.

Excellent point. In fact, there's no evidence of any crime. It's only her friends' and her family's insistence that she wouldn't just go walkabout that tells us something befell her.

 

[WestLondoner]

I wonder was the highly-unusual 'Police Prime Suspect' press conference and police announcement over 20 years ago, in essence prompted by the political pressure that DL was placing upon the MET?

Perhaps the way to placate her? ....

One benefit of naming Cannan is that it prejudices a fair trial for him. Now that he's been named as the only suspect, any attempt at actually trying him would get thrown out as soon as his counsel pointed this out. This means that having failed to assemble a case against him in the first place, the police cannot now be expected to do so, as it's sure to go nowhere.

It's quite clever actually. It pacified the family while leaving investigators with nothing further to do.

 

[shadwell]

Prudential plc - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Prudential purchased Chesterton's Residential (Sturgis) in August 1986 and this may provide a reason why SJL had a secret meeting with Mr Kipper. The meeting with Mr Kipper was probably an interview with her new boss when the Sturgis job was terminated IMO

(Credit @Cluesleuth for the Prudential photo)

Not sure I understand this entirely - you’re saying the Sturgis branch was set to close in August 1986?

 

[WestLondoner]

Not sure I understand this entirely - you’re saying the Sturgis branch was set to close in August 1986?

Are there some cross purposes going on here? Sturgis wasn't acquired in 1986 AFAIK. This is a grotty transcription but Martin Sturgis was still being cited by the FT in 1987 after the stock market crash of October, so they were still independent at that date.

 

[NorthParade]

your help on this would be appreciated NP.
Im interested in looking at security workers/doormen in general.

Happy to ask and look round, though I live the other side of London these days so it may take a bit of time!

 

[RichardKimble]

The CPS have not said its not in the public interest to proceed, the CPS in 2002 said there is not enough evidence .

Just checked to be doubly sure.

Quote: Stuart Sampson, Special case work lawyer, CPS 1991-2010 -"No direct evidence linking the suspect to the victim ( Cannan to Suzi Lamplugh) no body so not a realistic possibility of a conviction".

Source, CH5 ,The vanishing of Suzi Lamplugh.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Not sure I understand this entirely - you’re saying the Sturgis branch was set to close in August 1986?

We need to ask more questions to clarify the situation.

 

[Terryb808]

We need to ask more questions to clarify the situation.

Agree, this could be very important?

 

[Cluesleuth]

Happy to ask and look round, though I live the other side of London these days so it may take a bit of time!

Thats fine NP,
construction site security at Earls Court 2 Arena would be of particular interest and gate entry security at Coda stuudios Munster Rd.

 

[EddietheEagle]

Prudential plc - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Prudential purchased Chesterton's Residential (Sturgis) in August 1986 and this may provide a reason why SJL had a secret meeting with Mr Kipper. The meeting with Mr Kipper was probably an interview with her new boss when the Sturgis job was terminated IMO

(Credit @Cluesleuth for the Prudential photo)Chestertons has nothing to do with Suzy Lamplugh and Prudential's purchase of Chestertons had nothing to with Sturgis. Chestertons took on 654 Fulham Rd presumably when Sturgis ceased trading which was certainly after 1986, most likely around 1988. Half an hour spent on a Companies House search will show that Martin Sturgis closed a number of his subsidiary companies down in 1988. His holding company Sturgis International Ltd limped on for a number of years, effectively as an insolvent business.

Chestertons had nothing to do with Suzy Lamplugh. Sturgis eventually folded but was still going well after 1986. Half an hour on Companies House will point to that.

So many wild theories here are based on fanciful information. I particularly like DV's assertion, central to his whole, dubious case, that SL left Sturgis without taking the keys to Shorrolds Road. He never explains why Det. Supt. Nick Carter went on BBC Crimewatch in October 1986 to state that SL took the keys with her on a distinctive, yellow Sturgis fob and that they were still missing. Somehow we are invited to ignore reasonable presumptions of fact and instead, opt for fantasy.

 

[EddietheEagle]

Kipper was only one line of enquiry.

The police looked forensically into SJL's life, including personal and professional associations, to identify all possible reasons for her disappearance.

That some believe the investigation was Kipper and nothing else, based only on the media reporting, demonstrates a huge knowledge gap in how an investigation was/is conducted.

I would urge a greater understanding of how the investigation process works. There is good material out there that will provide this insight.

That the police had realms of other information around SL's disappearance but never revealed, is made known in AS's book, The Suzy Lamplugh Story. Stevens had access to police files. Through these, aspects of SL's private life were alluded to which suggest there were other men knocking around her universe. And that's not to suggest the police knew everything as clearly, they didn't. One of those 'friends' could well have been Mr Kipper, particularly given the information that subsequently emerged of JC and his modus operandi. It's somewhat uncanny how these threads seem to lead into one another from opposite directions. Or maybe not.

 

[Cluesleuth]

Prudential plc - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Prudential purchased Chesterton's Residential (Sturgis) in August 1986 and this may provide a reason why SJL had a secret meeting with Mr Kipper. The meeting with Mr Kipper was probably an interview with her new boss when the Sturgis job was terminated IMO

(Credit @Cluesleuth for the Prudential photo)

Pinkizzy can I politely point out that you have incorrectly credited the link to the Prudential to me.

 

[Pinkizzy]

My guess is that she planned to meet someone at 37 SR but didn't reach her destination. This meeting could have been a business deal, a job interview or a house viewing.

 

[WestLondoner]

Agree, I don't think she got far from Sturgis.