UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #7

[Klclevi]

The only thing I can find is this Dept of the Uni of Texas, who were gifted Brookner's notebooks.

The AS book notes ( for her review?) are listed under the Notebook 'Fraud' 1992. Scroll to see listings.

Maybe a request to the Library? Not sure how accessible they are.

Anita Brookner: An Inventory of Her Notebooks at the Harry Ransom Center

Ahh thankyou so much SVS for this.

I will make a request if I can. Thanks again much appreciated.

 

[rvlvr]

I agree that the two sightings by Doyle and Devere are interesting but I also think it’s worth mentioning that they came forward only after the police reconstruction that had taken place a week after SL had disappeared had aired. I’m catching up on the Casefile podcast and in their recent episode on the disappearance of William Tyrrell there’s a short but interesting section regarding Dr Helen Paterson’s testimony concerning false memories and how they can be created.

Essentially, information learned after an event can potentially distort future retellings of the event, and I wonder if something similar happened here. I don’t doubt the NDs saw *something* but a) it seems odd to me they didn’t come forward to begin with, given the blaze of publicity the case received from day one and b) by the time they did so, the reconstruction had aired and the sequence of events that police assumed had occurred had become visually fixed in the public’s mind.

Handily for police, who’d already hit a dead end (“By the end of the second week, the trail had gone alarmingly cold”, AS writes on page 73), what both NDs said they saw neatly aligned with what officers believed to be true.

DV tried to track down the NDs for his book and described it as like “hunting for ghosts”. It does seem that he eventually found Devere, but peculiarly Devere is said to have hidden inside a house while a woman listed on the electoral register as living with a Noel Devere stood at the front door claiming to have no knowledge of him, so we never got to hear his recollection of events. I wonder how well his and Doyle’s stories would have held up under fresh pressure, given how so many of the other key players that DV interviewed seemed to budge on certain details, and/or behaved bizarrely?

 

[Officer Dibble]

..

There's no evidence that Cannan was the man she allegedly arranged a viewing with. The sketch of "Mr Kipper" actually resembles Suzy's boss who was there later with a colleague, looking for her. Lots of things that have been presented as facts are unreliable. All the stories about Kipper being his nickname are unfounded.

I had no idea until today that JC was dead.

I also had no idea the resemblance you mention, despite sometimes querying why the Police would believe what the boss told them at the time. Interesting. JMO. Do we know if Kipper resembled her handwriting?

 

[Officer Dibble]

I too don't believe that Suzy headed to the pub that lunchtime, i really think she would have taken her handbag to collect her lost items.

In DV's book, KH mentions speaking to Suzy on the phone, and she said she would be along to collect the items later. I think she intended to do the viewing at 6pm, then pick up her things from the pub on the way home.

I also agree that she probably took her purse to buy some lunch after the viewing at Shorrolds Road.

Picking up lunch is a very good call. Most people had particular places they picked up lunch. I wonder where she went?

 

[Officer Dibble]

Lorna st

lorna st theresa hayles, murdered at home tasman rd clapham, the date of death was said to be around the tome sl disappeared,so her address would have been available

?

 

[Officer Dibble]

Do we even think someone else had ever been in the car? I feel the driver seat position is not enough evidence to suggest that alone ?

the previous driver of the Sturgess car was allegedly a young lad at the office - I wonder if he was tall and SJL just hadn't bothered to change the seat position as it was a short journey. Edited to add JMO

 

[lee sumner]

I have always had the feeling Cannan was not responsible, the timeline just never felt right, Sams was my no1 suspect

MS held SS for ransom. SL was never heard from again.

 

[tes1984]

I have always had the feeling Cannan was not responsible, the timeline just never felt right, Sams was my no1 suspect

It might not have been Cannan, but he certainly more than fits in with the timeline.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

..


I had no idea until today that JC was dead.

I also had no idea the resemblance you mention, despite sometimes querying why the Police would believe what the boss told them at the time. Interesting. JMO. Do we know if Kipper resembled her handwriting?

For my money the temp secretary did the diary entry at the behest of her boss after SL left the office that lunchtime MOO

 

[tes1984]

For my money the temp secretary did the diary entry at the behest of her boss after SL left the office that lunchtime MOO

I think that's very unlikely, unless the secretary was some kind of master forger.

 

[rvlvr]

I think it’s unlikely too but having read AS’s book again it’s very difficult to work out precisely what MG saw and did, and when.

“The estate agent manager”, we’re told on page 6 - and by ‘manager’ AS means MG - “remembered Susannah coming behind his desk to pick up the keys [to 37SR]”, yet on page 78 we’re told that, that lunchtime, MG was in “the Crocodile Tears wine bar … with colleagues from other Sturgis offices.” Was MG in the office when she left, or not?

On page 8, when Suzy hasn’t returned after lunch, we’re told that MG went to 37SR and “found no sign of Susannah in or out of the house.” It’s stated that MG then made calls, to Suzy’s parents and to local hospitals; that he visited the local police station to report Suzy missing but left before doing so as it was too busy; that he kept a house-showing appointment of his own; then, that he returned to 37SR: “still nothing”.

How can he find ‘nothing’, no sign of her ‘in the house’, without having entered it? Even if he’d peered in through the large bay window at the front, he surely couldn’t have seen the entirety of the ground floor - and the property as a whole is three storeys high.

Likewise, AS makes a point of telling us that DI Johnstone ordered his team to go to Suzy’s home “immediately”, before Johnstone is supposed to have said: “Whatever you do, get in there.” We’re told in quite a bit of detail about what happened at Suzy’s home, such as police breaking open the door, and the various tasks they performed while searching inside. Yet 37SR - supposedly the centrepiece of this story - receives very little of the author’s attention. We’re informed that “detectives were immediately sent to ‘enter and search’” the property, and that’s pretty much that.

How was 37SR entered and searched? Did MG enter and search it prior to the police? Did MG find the keys to 37SR between his first and second visits, or on the Monday evening?

Imo, DV’s hunch that MG or someone at Sturgis found the keys at some point is plausible, and not contradicted by any of the evidence presented in AS’s book. *If* the keys were found, then whoever found them probably thought that this was odd. But my guess is that HR’s ‘sighting’ of ‘Suzy’ with a man outside of 37SR would’ve ‘confirmed’ to them that Suzy must’ve gone there and met ‘Mr Kipper’. MG was a busy man, trying to run the office and keep his own appointments, as were the rest of his staff. Events were moving fast and police weren’t simply treating this as a ‘misper’, CID were quickly involved, while the Lamplugh family were holding court with the national papers. Any misunderstanding regarding the whereabouts of the keys likely seemed unimportant in those first few weeks when all that surely mattered was finding Suzy.

I like AS’s book and think as a contemporaneous account of SL’s disappearance it’s a necessary read, though as I’ve said before, imo as an investigative piece of work DV’s book is leagues ahead of anything else written on this case.

 

[Klclevi]

I like AS’s book and think as a contemporaneous account of SL’s disappearance it’s a necessary read, though as I’ve said before, imo as an investigative piece of work DV’s book is leagues ahead of anything else written on this case.

So very well written rvlvr.
I agree re AS book. I think had he been given free reign on the publication there probably would have been so much more but was ultimately suppressed by the family and probably the police to some degree. Which makes what we are analysing today quite questionable.

However what is good about the book- it clearly brings aspects of SJLs life to light that would otherwise have gone unknown to the majority and SJL would forever be the 'perfect daughter'.

DVs work has definitely unveiled some oddities , and the fact he has not used the ALLd's correct name must say something?... (the correct name is in AS book). There is also the couple link - not alot is mentioned in the book - but enough - this link still remains uninvestigated I think?

You have to have a real think about that link I reckon . It is not inconceivable that SJL may have been having an affair with the husband, and involved in some sort of property deals on the side somehow. If she was speaking about a $3k commission in 1986 - that was ALOT of money back then - she would not be earning that on basic property selling in Fulham ( eg 37SR $128k- it would need to have been a $1m property - and was that the sorts of properties Sturgis was selling then?) I would have thought that was Belgravia, places like that and certainly not a newbie like SJL. This person may have been aggrieved at her avoidance of them after they spent money on a potential business venture together (only for him to declare bankruptcy not long afterwards)

Also - as the husband was apparently a property developer - he had access to vacant properties around Fulham and lured her there that lunchtime?

I think the POW - under floor or embankment theory is pretty unlikely IMO - but without a search of that there is no way to conclusively say, and I guess the police are not going to stump up resources for that in case it is true and they look like right idiots (same as the canal).

So given now its what - 4 years or more since DV publication , unless some new information comes to light nothing is going to happen is it .

Anyway JMOT (just my own thoughts here!)

 

[lee sumner]

I think it’s unlikely too but having read AS’s book again it’s very difficult to work out precisely what MG saw and did, and when.

“The estate agent manager”, we’re told on page 6 - and by ‘manager’ AS means MG - “remembered Susannah coming behind his desk to pick up the keys [to 37SR]”, yet on page 78 we’re told that, that lunchtime, MG was in “the Crocodile Tears wine bar … with colleagues from other Sturgis offices.” Was MG in the office when she left, or not?

On page 8, when Suzy hasn’t returned after lunch, we’re told that MG went to 37SR and “found no sign of Susannah in or out of the house.” It’s stated that MG then made calls, to Suzy’s parents and to local hospitals; that he visited the local police station to report Suzy missing but left before doing so as it was too busy; that he kept a house-showing appointment of his own; then, that he returned to 37SR: “still nothing”.

How can he find ‘nothing’, no sign of her ‘in the house’, without having entered it? Even if he’d peered in through the large bay window at the front, he surely couldn’t have seen the entirety of the ground floor - and the property as a whole is three storeys high.

Likewise, AS makes a point of telling us that DI Johnstone ordered his team to go to Suzy’s home “immediately”, before Johnstone is supposed to have said: “Whatever you do, get in there.” We’re told in quite a bit of detail about what happened at Suzy’s home, such as police breaking open the door, and the various tasks they performed while searching inside. Yet 37SR - supposedly the centrepiece of this story - receives very little of the author’s attention. We’re informed that “detectives were immediately sent to ‘enter and search’” the property, and that’s pretty much that.

How was 37SR entered and searched? Did MG enter and search it prior to the police? Did MG find the keys to 37SR between his first and second visits, or on the Monday evening?

Imo, DV’s hunch that MG or someone at Sturgis found the keys at some point is plausible, and not contradicted by any of the evidence presented in AS’s book. *If* the keys were found, then whoever found them probably thought that this was odd. But my guess is that HR’s ‘sighting’ of ‘Suzy’ with a man outside of 37SR would’ve ‘confirmed’ to them that Suzy must’ve gone there and met ‘Mr Kipper’. MG was a busy man, trying to run the office and keep his own appointments, as were the rest of his staff. Events were moving fast and police weren’t simply treating this as a ‘misper’, CID were quickly involved, while the Lamplugh family were holding court with the national papers. Any misunderstanding regarding the whereabouts of the keys likely seemed unimportant in those first few weeks when all that surely mattered was finding Suzy.

I like AS’s book and think as a contemporaneous account of SL’s disappearance it’s a necessary read, though as I’ve said before, imo as an investigative piece of work DV’s book is leagues ahead of anything else written on this case.

DV book is a joke. he did not have access to the original case files like AS did. DV thinks SL never took the keys to 37/SR, but i think she did. DV was writing his book 30 yrs after SL disappeared. after 3 decades he is not going to get a straight answer from anyone involved in the case.

 

[Officer Dibble]

So very well written rvlvr.
I agree re AS book. I think had he been given free reign on the publication there probably would have been so much more but was ultimately suppressed by the family and probably the police to some degree. Which makes what we are analysing today quite questionable.

However what is good about the book- it clearly brings aspects of SJLs life to light that would otherwise have gone unknown to the majority and SJL would forever be the 'perfect daughter'.

DVs work has definitely unveiled some oddities , and the fact he has not used the ALLd's correct name must say something?... (the correct name is in AS book). There is also the couple link - not alot is mentioned in the book - but enough - this link still remains uninvestigated I think?

You have to have a real think about that link I reckon . It is not inconceivable that SJL may have been having an affair with the husband, and involved in some sort of property deals on the side somehow. If she was speaking about a $3k commission in 1986 - that was ALOT of money back then - she would not be earning that on basic property selling in Fulham ( eg 37SR $128k- it would need to have been a $1m property - and was that the sorts of properties Sturgis was selling then?) I would have thought that was Belgravia, places like that and certainly not a newbie like SJL. This person may have been aggrieved at her avoidance of them after they spent money on a potential business venture together (only for him to declare bankruptcy not long afterwards)

Also - as the husband was apparently a property developer - he had access to vacant properties around Fulham and lured her there that lunchtime?

I think the POW - under floor or embankment theory is pretty unlikely IMO - but without a search of that there is no way to conclusively say, and I guess the police are not going to stump up resources for that in case it is true and they look like right idiots (same as the canal).

So given now its what - 4 years or more since DV publication , unless some new information comes to light nothing is going to happen is it .

Anyway JMOT (just my own thoughts here!)

Some food for thought re the husband and potentially meeting up at lunchtime at a property of his. I wonder if he had kippers for breakfast usually? JMO

 

[rvlvr]

DV book is a joke. he did not have access to the original case files like AS did. DV thinks SL never took the keys to 37/SR, but i think she did. DV was writing his book 30 yrs after SL disappeared. after 3 decades he is not going to get a straight answer from anyone involved in the case.

All AS does is regurgitate the case file, he doesn’t address any of the contradictions within it. He tells us MG recalled Suzy taking the keys, then later tells us MG was in the wine bar - which is it? Based on DV’s interviews with MG, we surely have to conclude it was the latter, so where does this discrepancy come from? Why doesn’t AS pick up on this?

I agree DV’s book is 30 years too late - it’s the book AS should’ve written.

 

[lee sumner]

All AS does is regurgitate the case file, he doesn’t address any of the contradictions within it. He tells us MG recalled Suzy taking the keys, then later tells us MG was in the wine bar - which is it? Based on DV’s interviews with MG, we surely have to conclude it was the latter, so where does this discrepancy come from? Why doesn’t AS pick up on this?

I agree DV’s book is 30 years too late - it’s the book AS should’ve written.

its people like DV who make the case even more complicated than it already is. he clearly does not believe occams principle, and to think he was once a police officer. he has his theory then wants everything to fit his theory about what happened to SL.

 

[lee sumner]

DV book is a joke. he did not have access to the original case files like AS did. DV thinks SL never took the keys to 37/SR, but i think she did. DV was writing his book 30 yrs after SL disappeared. after 3 decades he is not going to get a straight answer from anyone involved in the case.

I think it’s unlikely too but having read AS’s book again it’s very difficult to work out precisely what MG saw and did, and when.

“The estate agent manager”, we’re told on page 6 - and by ‘manager’ AS means MG - “remembered Susannah coming behind his desk to pick up the keys [to 37SR]”, yet on page 78 we’re told that, that lunchtime, MG was in “the Crocodile Tears wine bar … with colleagues from other Sturgis offices.” Was MG in the office when she left, or not?

On page 8, when Suzy hasn’t returned after lunch, we’re told that MG went to 37SR and “found no sign of Susannah in or out of the house.” It’s stated that MG then made calls, to Suzy’s parents and to local hospitals; that he visited the local police station to report Suzy missing but left before doing so as it was too busy; that he kept a house-showing appointment of his own; then, that he returned to 37SR: “still nothing”.

How can he find ‘nothing’, no sign of her ‘in the house’, without having entered it? Even if he’d peered in through the large bay window at the front, he surely couldn’t have seen the entirety of the ground floor - and the property as a whole is three storeys high.

Likewise, AS makes a point of telling us that DI Johnstone ordered his team to go to Suzy’s home “immediately”, before Johnstone is supposed to have said: “Whatever you do, get in there.” We’re told in quite a bit of detail about what happened at Suzy’s home, such as police breaking open the door, and the various tasks they performed while searching inside. Yet 37SR - supposedly the centrepiece of this story - receives very little of the author’s attention. We’re informed that “detectives were immediately sent to ‘enter and search’” the property, and that’s pretty much that.

How was 37SR entered and searched? Did MG enter and search it prior to the police? Did MG find the keys to 37SR between his first and second visits, or on the Monday evening?

Imo, DV’s hunch that MG or someone at Sturgis found the keys at some point is plausible, and not contradicted by any of the evidence presented in AS’s book. *If* the keys were found, then whoever found them probably thought that this was odd. But my guess is that HR’s ‘sighting’ of ‘Suzy’ with a man outside of 37SR would’ve ‘confirmed’ to them that Suzy must’ve gone there and met ‘Mr Kipper’. MG was a busy man, trying to run the office and keep his own appointments, as were the rest of his staff. Events were moving fast and police weren’t simply treating this as a ‘misper’, CID were quickly involved, while the Lamplugh family were holding court with the national papers. Any misunderstanding regarding the whereabouts of the keys likely seemed unimportant in those first few weeks when all that surely mattered was finding Suzy.

I like AS’s book and think as a contemporaneous account of SL’s disappearance it’s a necessary read, though as I’ve said before, imo as an investigative piece of work DV’s book is leagues ahead of anything else written on this case.

there does appear to be some confusion over MG getting inside 37SR, but 30 yrs on i dont think he would give a straight answer. you would think he would, but its like chinese whispers. i would love to view the original case file.

 

[rvlvr]

its people like DV who make the case even more complicated than it already is. he clearly does not believe occams principle, and to think he was once a police officer. he has his theory then wants everything to fit his theory about what happened to SL.

The case as presented by the police, with the support of Suzy’s parents and the media, isn’t remotely complicated - far from it.

All DV did was track down the key players and coax them into revealing inconsistencies and oddities in their own stories - something AS probably should’ve done back in ‘88.

DV then reached a conclusion, which may or may not be correct, but the evidence he uncovered along the way should be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the case.

 

[Eastend Eagle]

All AS does is regurgitate the case file, he doesn’t address any of the contradictions within it. He tells us MG recalled Suzy taking the keys, then later tells us MG was in the wine bar - which is it? Based on DV’s interviews with MG, we surely have to conclude it was the latter, so where does this discrepancy come from? Why doesn’t AS pick up on this?

I agree DV’s book is 30 years too late - it’s the book AS should’ve written.

It seems MG must have told 2 separate stories on this to Police IMO
And also IMO this isn't the only oddity regards his account of events that day.

For my money the temp secretary did the diary entry at the behest of her boss after SL left the office that lunchtime MOO

Was it not the temp secretary's first day employed at Sturgis?

 

[lee sumner]

The case as presented by the police, with the support of Suzy’s parents and the media, isn’t remotely complicated - far from it.

All DV did was track down the key players and coax them into revealing inconsistencies and oddities in their own stories - something AS probably should’ve done back in ‘88.

DV then reached a conclusion, which may or may not be correct, but the evidence he uncovered along the way should be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the case.

yes, but 30 yrs on. events wont be fresh in there minds.