UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 Jul 1986 #8

[tes1984]

It’s difficult to see what the similarities are between the HFS rapes and Cannan’s known crimes, imo.

The HFS rapist was described in various attacks as between 30 and 45 years old, and between 5ft7 and 5ft10. He was well spoken with brown hair, and during one rape threatened to harm the victim's small children.

He wore gloves and on at least one occasion a beige anorak. He tied one of his victims to her bed. He ransacked properties and stole cash.

 

[tes1984]

In 1982, 26 year old Stephen Morris from Bolton was convicted of three 1981 'house for sale' rapes - in Heywood, Rochdale and Manchester. In one attack he threatened to harm young children.

Morris seems to have been a mobile offender, travelling 10-20 miles to commit his rapes. I can't find any mention of motorbikes though, and he seems a bit on the young side to be the offender from a year or two earlier.

The 1981 rapes are also around 80-95 miles from the 1979-80 series, and I haven't been able to link Morris to the Birmingham area.

 

[tes1984]

Police ruled out a link between the Birmingham HFS attacks and the rape and murder of 59 year old Miriam Salvage in Swindon in July 1981.

Miriam was strangled after she showed a man around her house for sale.

31 year old Edward Deacon was convicted of Miriam's murder in 1982. Deacon was no criminal genius though, as shortly before the murder he had given his phone number to another female with a house for sale.

Interestingly though witnesses had described him as 16-20 years old, which of course was completely wrong.

The police mentioned that the 1979-80 HFS rapist visited 23 houses and committed 3 rapes (in Kenilworth, Tamworth and Kings Heath).

 

[WestLondoner]

The HFS rapist was described in various attacks as between 30 and 45 years old, and between 5ft7 and 5ft10. He was well spoken with brown hair, and during one rape threatened to harm the victim's small children.

He wore gloves and on at least one occasion a beige anorak. He tied one of his victims to her bed. He ransacked properties and stole cash.

Making him 10 to 25 years too old to have been Cannan.

 

[tes1984]

Making him 10 to 25 years too old to have been Cannan.

True, but the witnesses who saw Edward Deacon somehow got his age wrong by 11-15 years.

AFAIK none of the 23 women who encountered the HFS rapist picked out JC as the perp, but I might be wrong.

 

[WestLondoner]

True, but the witnesses who saw Edward Deacon somehow got his age wrong by 11-15 years.

AFAIK none of the 23 women who encountered the HFS rapist picked out JC as the perp, but I might be wrong.

Or to look at it another way, not a single thing about the HSFR cases suggests Cannan, other than that they took place within 40 miles of Birmingham where he lived.

 

[RichardKimble]

Or to look at it another way, not a single thing about the HSFR cases suggests Cannan, other than that they took place within 40 miles of Birmingham where he lived.

Or remove Canaan, is there anything to suggest either through witness accounts or forensics that point to a man known to the police.