Not from the standpoint of the forensic medicine. It was the smallest amount of force required to strangle which is not exactly compatible with a man of known penchant for brutality acting in anger. That's my point, I do not attempt to diminish the victim's suffering here.
UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #8
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the larynx i think its called.
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a mystery letter was sent to someone claiming a woman was responsible for killing sandra. could explain min force strangulation.
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I'm not sure there was only one "Putney set". In the 1980s Wandsworth and Fulham had a population of about 400,000. Assuming life expectancy of 80, that's 5,000 of any given age, hence 75,000 between the ages of say 19 and 34. Even if SJL's clique were exclusively among the most prosperous 5% of that slice, that's still nearly 4,000 people. I'd be surprised if her so-called Putney set numbered more than 5% of those - 150 to 200 semi-casual acquaintances (realistically, who has time for more?). That is, there could have been 20 such sets who barely overlapped.
In the 1980s at university I was a holiday rep in Austria during the summer holidays. We had a not dissimilar structure - knots of villages in which people of those ages, locals and foreign, worked in hotels, chalets, restaurants, ski schools, tour companies and as package holiday company reps. There was a Zell-am-See-Kaprun-Mittersill set, a Saalbach-Hinterglemm set, a Mayrhofen-Maria Alm set...and so on. All the same demographic but completely detached, until mixed up for the next season.
I am not sure what this says other than that it does not seem impossible for someone legitimately of her own preferred social demographic to enter her life while being wholly unknown to anyone in her subset of Putney sets.
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Nor do I, but it still sounds like bu1154it. The PoW was an OK but unremarkable pub, not a wine bar. It was not a convenient Tube journey from the Scrubs either. I tend to be sceptical of anything remembered years after the fact when Cannan was already in the frame.
This is the video in which AL undermines his later claim to DV never to have been there, by saying he went there. This account also doesn't explain how KH found this stuff outside on Sunday night, the night he arrived.
ISTR this has been identified as someone else.
Although the problem with this account is that nobody else mentioned champagne.
You have to be quite careful with this kind of claim because many such arose only years after the fact and there is often a lot of strategic misdirection about what was known when. The idea that Cannan was seen staring in the window of Sturgis is one such. Someone came forward with this "sighting" 14 years after the fact IIRC. The obvious challenge is how this "witness" could be sure of the day and date after 14 years. I'd want to ask him what the newspaper headline was that day, and who his team played the day before, to establish that he has reliably perfect recall. If he had no idea then he made this up after watching the TV.
Very unfortunate indeed.
And he wasn't wrong.
This is why the current case is so feeble. It rests on evidence supposedly received only 14 years later, because it has to. "Look, we've shown it's Cannan, but we never had the evidence at the time." In fact, there were pointers to Cannan before he killed SB - but these can't be cited because they testify to plod ineptitude.
What's kind of bizarre is that at the time of jailing Cannan for the haberdashery shop rape the police did not look into other unsolved rapes in the area. Like the HFSR (that wasn't Cannan) they had a witness here able to defend her attacker. Why on earth was he only jailed for one assault when there was at least one other?
The late 1986 / 1987 case that could have been made against Cannan is that his alibi was lies, his movements were unknown, he was one of X recently-released rapists from three local prisons, when put on an ID parade several witnesses might well have picked him out, he was linkable to a recently sold 2nd hand LHD BMW, and his mate the prison cook had a flat and a lockup a short walk from Shorrolds. That lot would have been enough to recall him to prison to do the other 4 years, and once he's back inside there's the chance to interrogate him at leisure and surface a lot more.
This alternative account of what could have been done and why Cannan probably did it is the one you never hear, because if it had happened, then at least one rape and one murder would have been averted.
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Looks somewhat like the Writer of Gothic Fiction, Meyrink? 'The Golem' etc?Regarding the Prince of Wales and AL there are some interesting snippets in this 2002 channel 5 doc. You may need to turn on the subtitles - or maybe I'm going deaf!
At 13 mins a "work colleague" from his time in London, Josie Phillips, says that Cannan went to the Prince of Wales and he said it was a "lively pub and like a pub and wine bar", and he also said "I go there quite regular". Don't know why she would lie.
A little later from 16 mins 35 secs Adam Leegood - he's mentioned by name - says that on the day Cannan was released, ie the Friday, he met her at her flat, they went for a meal round the corner and afterwards went next door to the PoW and "we think it was there somebody took some things from her bag...a bad end to a good evening."
If you haven't seen the video it is well worth watching - some disputable points maybe - and I think a lot of it is based on Christopher Berry-Dee and Robin Odell's research, as was the timeline I provided a couple of comments ago. Did Cannan actually claim to his work colleagues while he was on day release that he was dating an "uptown girl called Susu"?
From 23 mins 39 seconds there is an interesting segment on Cannan's stays at the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol - I can remember when it was previously called the Grand Spa as I went to a cousin's wedding reception there in the 1970s - which was a 10-15 minute walk from his residence in Leigh Woods. A Sun journalist, who lived in the same block of flats as JC, says that Bristol had a "wine bar culture" at the time and that he thinks Cannan "saw wine bars as a stalking ground...a hunting ground". The Avon Gorge is both a hotel and pub/wine bar with views from the balcony of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. At the end of 1986 Cannan would regularly - at least once a month according to the then Head Receptionist - book an expensive (£90 a night) suite for the weekend and always paid in cash. She says he brought his own champagne in as "part of his image to entice the ladies to go up"! It was there he first saw Gilly Paige - he gave her a bottle of champagne with his room number on a note attached to it.
Another ex-girlfriend mentioned champagne.
Noting that Suzy was seen "with a man who was carrying a bottle of champagne festooned with ribbons" for "Daphne Sargent, an ex-girlfriend of Cannon's [sic], this evidence was enough to convince her. "As soon as I heard about Suzy," she told the press, "I knew it was John. It had all the hallmarks - right down to the champagne."" See:
False hopes that prey on every woman's fear
THE PRETTY face of Suzy Lamplugh twinkles out once again from television screens and newspaper pages. This face, of a 25-year-old who disappeared without trace in the course of her duties as an estate agent during the mid-Eighties property boom, has in its tragic way become iconic. Ms Lamplugh's...www.independent.co.uk
Incidentally Bryan Saunders of Avon & Somerset Police, who said in a previous video I linked about Shirley Banks that there was no evidence to link JC to SL, seems to have come round to believing Cannan was involved according to the above Independent article:
"The police, too, appear to believe that Cannan was Ms Lamplugh's killer. Former detective chief inspector Bryan Saunders said: "Inquiries showed that he went window-shopping for girls. He would spot an attractive girl in an estate agent's or building society and pursue her.""
As for Cannan's alibi, in this video Christopher Berry-Dee - who is absolutely full of himself - says that "the night" that JC killed SL he drove straight back to Sutton Coldfield and his mother "gave him a dinner" (from 6 mins 5 secs). Perhaps Cannan confused (deliberately?) his lunch with his dinner.
Maybe the Lenny the Lizard CBD mentions is one of David Icke's archons.
Unfortunately the cops in the original investigation never challenged Cannan's "alibi" according to a report by DCS Barry Webb. I have quoted from this article before:
"THE cop who led the first Suzy Lamplugh inquiry refused to view John Cannan as her possible killer because he fell out with her mum.
An official review said Det Supt Malcolm Hackett's view of "Mr Kipper" suspect Cannan was prejudiced by his belief Diana Lamplugh was behind media stories linking the murderer with Suzy...
The Sun today reveals how a damning official review of the initial police inquiry said Det Supt Malcolm Hackett fell out with Diana Lamplugh because he believed she was behind media reports linking Cannan to Suzy.
It prejudiced his view of Cannan to such an extent he failed to properly interview him, put him in ID lines ups or check his alibi for the day Suzy vanished. Instead, Hackett told his team to try to eliminate Cannan as a suspect.
Diana and Paul Lamplugh raised questions about Cannan after he was arrested in October 1987 for the murder of Shirley Banks.
The report tells how the Lamplugh’s initially had a good rapport with the police team investigating Suzy’s disappearance.
But this changed when the previous lead officer retired and Det Supt Hackett took over...
The Met Police review report, written 14 years ago but kept under wraps until now, said that deteriorating relationship became a “significant issue.”
Det Supt Hackett was convinced that Press reports linking Cannan to Suzy came from the Lamplughs.
The report said: “This appears to have influenced Mr Hackett into never seriously considering Cannan as a person who could have abducted and murdered Suzy.”
“This influenced Mr Hackett when he made a number of key decisions concerning John Cannan.”...
When Cannan was finally questioned about Suzy — four months after his arrest for Shirley’s murder — Det Supt Hackett told detectives to deal with the interview as an elimination process and not to treat him as a suspect.
In March 1989 he wrote that there was “no evidence that Cannan committed any offence against Suzy Lamplugh".
There was “no evidence of any connection” between the Banks and Lamplugh cases.
Yet the Operation Phoebus review judged that by late 1987 there was enough information to treat Cannan as a “prime suspect."
The report by Det Chief Supt Barry Webb noted: “A more positive approach from the senior investigating officer regarding Cannan’s status as a genuine suspect could have resolved whether he was responsible for Suzy’s murder.
“Unfortunately the SIO appears to have been prejudiced against this course of action primarily because he believed Cannan had come into the MIR(murder incident room) as a suspect from Diana Lamplugh.
“This resulted in the SIO specifically stating that Cannan was not to be treated as a suspect.
“As a result only limited actions were undertaken and a non-challenging interview strategy adopted.”
One of the key issues was a failure to properly evaluate Cannan’s alibi that he was chatting up a sales assistant in Birmingham on the day Suzy disappeared. When approached more than a year [later] she confirmed Cannan’s account. But doubts were later raised over whether she got the day right.
Despite detailed descriptions of Mr Kipper, Cannan was never placed on an ID parade.
When police did finally question him regarding Suzy in February 1988 it was not under caution.
The report said: “No pressure is put on Cannan. The Review Team finds the strategy strange.”
Cannan was interviewed on two further occasions, in 1989 and 1990, and maintained his innocence.
His name was first mentioned to Det Supt Hacket as a suspect in June 1987, 11 months after Suzy’s abduction and four months before Shirley’s murder. A detective investigating a rape committed by Cannan in Reading in October 1986 spoke to Det Supt Hackett about him.
But the report said the information was “not given much credence” and no further action was taken...
The first links between the Banks and Lamplugh cases were made in the media the day after his arrest...
The review report led to a new homicide investigation led by Det Supt Jim Dickie.
Mr Dickie, now retired, said of the original 1986 probe: “There were glaring errors.”"
Cop lost chance to nail Suzy Lamplugh's 'killer' John Cannan over rows with mum (my bold lettering)
I mentioned my aunt in a previous comment in connection with her best friend's son-in-law who says he met Cannan in a pub and JC offered to bump off his wife. There is another connection to my aunt, as the elderly witness who saw a person she thinks was Cannan acting suspiciously and threateningly near his flat in Leigh Woods at the time of Shirley Banks' disappearance lived in Cairns Road, Westbury Park. I know it very well as I used to spend a lot of time at my aunt and uncle's house in the same road, although this was long before Cannan ever lived in Bristol. See:
An interesting article as it mentions Annabel Rose who Cannan claimed to have "made love" to in the open air in Ashton Court, thus explaining the red mud marks on his coat found after Shirley Banks' murder. She says they just "walked and talked", although they did make love at Cannan's flat and a hotel (presumably the Avon Gorge!). Later Rose broke down sobbing and collapsed to her seat some time after Cannan had ranted from the dock.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - apart from his eyebrows the young Cannan did look spookily like my younger self.
View attachment 619668
I even had a hat like that when I spent a couple of years in Australia in the early '80s roughing it in the Outback with Crocodile Dundee types in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley area of Western Australia. Note Cannan's small mouth and curly hair. Ditto! PS That's not me in my "avatar" photo. (I'll buy anyone a drink if they can tell me who it is)
The above pic of JC comes from this article about a claim from a woman who now lives in Brisbane, Australia, that Cannan raped her in 1981, when she was nine, in Erdington, Birmingham.
"Speaking exclusively to Birmingham Live, from Australia where she now lives, the married mum claimed the assault happened 42 years ago when she was walking towards her family home in Goosemoor Lane, Erdington.
Records show Cannan lived in Ley Hill Road at the time - only a 12 minute drive from where Melanie alleges he assaulted her. In the same year, he was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of raping a pregnant woman in front of her son."
Mum claims she was raped in Birmingham aged 9 by killer John Cannan
Exclusive: Melanie Gregory, diagnosed with PTSD and FND, is speaking about the alleged assault for the first time after police dropped her casewww.birminghammail.co.uk
I don't think it's ever been confirmed who wrote the letter, or if it was actually connected to the murder. The theory about a woman covering for someone seems to just be internet gossip. Presumably Sandra's friends and associates have been fingerprinted without a match.
Not sure why you can't see JC driving to Southampton. He had freedom of movement, access to a car and drove long distances.
Completely agree with all of this, but I don’t think people object to his book on any moral or ethical grounds.
The evidence DV uncovered undermined the story which seduced us all to some extent and imo it’s this that prompted much of the backlash.
If we take what we learned from DV’s book and combine it with what we already knew, a far less intriguing though still tragic theory emerges, in which Suzy’s belongings were very obviously lost, not stolen - likely on the Sunday; in which she didn’t take the keys to 37SR, nor her handbag, because she was never actually going there; in which the house viewing diary entry was likely cover for something else, very possibly something mundane.
Personally, for what it’s worth, I’m inclined to believe all of the above.
That still doesn’t rule *out* her meeting up with someone she knew (and of course that someone *could* have been Cannan, though imo that’s a stretch), nor does it rule *in* her going to the pub and coming to harm there. And ultimately whatever did happen to Suzy after she left the office is still a very sad mystery. But it’s a very different mystery to the one we’ve all bought in to.
This is a fair point, I think. Leegood must’ve had something about him in order for Suzy to have been attracted to him initially, I’m sure he was no mug and it sounds like he’s done ok for himself. It’s a shame he stormed out of his interview with DV as I can’t help but feel that if he hadn’t then he would’ve let slip even more interesting information, his views on the various theories put forward over the years would be highly valuable imo.
Danilo Restivo convicted of Elisa Claps murder in Italy
"Hair in hand" killer Danilo Restivo, jailed for life earlier this year for murdering a woman in Bournemouth, is found guilty of murdering a teenager in Italy.
www.bbc.co.uk
Italian serial killer Danilo Restivo, who murdered Heather Barnett in Bournemouth in 2002 (he wasn't in Bournemouth in 1987 when Sandra Court was murdered) and was later found to have murdered Elisa Claps in Italy in 1993.
The Elisa Claps murder was pretty much the Italian equivalent of the Suzy Lamplugh case. Elisa was 16 years old and visiting a church when she disappeared into thin air. Her body wasn't found for 17 years, and amazingly was found in the church where she was last seen, hiding in plain sight somehow for all those years.
So whilst I very, very much doubt that Suzy is buried in the POW, I must admit that stranger things have happened.
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