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

[Lady Stoddart-West]

The response Barley gave when questioned about the possibility of Cannan using said flat in the special episode of the True Criminals podcast was genuinely laugh out loud funny, a complete non-answer. I’d urge anyone who hasn’t listened yet to give it a blast, what Barley doesn’t say is as revealing as what he does, imo.

And credit to WL and Klclevi for getting these questions on the show.

Begins around the 26 minute mark:

Thank you for posting this.

A few things jump out…

1. AS said in 80s the police asked him to change an inconsequential detail in his book - I had thought on timeline. I’d picked up on contradictions, sensitivity & confusion about where she went on Sun night AFTER SL left her parents.

It’s interesting then, Barley seems to admit SL did see someone later on, on the SUNDAY (after visiting her parents) as I’d & others had surmised. Barley adds that SL seemingly gave AL a false alibi - seeing ‘friends’ when she didn’t. IF she saw another man later on Sun eve - as was implication - it might tarnish SL’s reputation & lose her much needed public sympathy & support. Poss the wealthy expat she’d seen in AL’s absence according to AS (?)

For this reason I think AL said they met up & diary lost on FRI & not SUN & poss had been green-lit & sanctioned therefore to legitimately do so. THIS ‘inconsequential’ detail - the switch of the day - being perhaps what the police had requested from AS (?) We do know they requested something in this vein. Like the butterfly effect though, it did serve to confuse & change the narrative around the timeline if so.

This fits with AL saying in a 2000 approx doc that things lost in POW on the FRIDAY later seeming to contradict himself with DV. The police had by then named JC as only suspect too (unprecedented!) if so, just going legitimately with party line re: earlier doc then. AL was then later telling the truth when he said he didn’t go to the POW.

This also fits with the temp landlord finding lost diary etc on SUNDAY night by phone-box when he arrived for his handover at POW. Source: DV.

This also fits with Brookner in. early review before edits, making an uncharacteristic mistake, in saying things lost on SUNDAY night. She was working from an early, unedited version perhaps (?)

This also accounts for SL’s tense ringing around on MON am to try to locate her things and not detouring much earlier & going hot on trail days before.

2. SL was apparently doing a deal re: joint ownership on a property she couldn’t otherwise afford. The deal being the other purchaser being able to use her address for mail, or similar. Her last words to her parents, to paraphrase, included “I will tell you all about it when I am able to”. There was some tension here. Again this was on Sunday eve.

The police did not know about this at time as the L family didn’t tell them and police were apparently very annoyed so the press said later in 1986. The L family assumed the police knew. The police needed to identify this person who presumably never came forward. Was it JC (?) he had form…

3. GP was raped by JC next to Norton Barracks. New info? After SL was discussed by GP (?)Was it “Mr Knight or Day?” asked GP NO “Mr Kipper” says JC. NB: earlier podcast on SL by team above.

4. Barley believes JC to have confessed & he’s powerful and compelling on this. SA - fellow policeman - with him in JC interview -.didn’t believe he’d witnessed JC’s confession he said in a doc. SA DID however, eventually come to believe JC guilty despite keeping an open mind - agreeing with Barley.

 

[StillDiggin]

Cold case police probe missing Suzy Lamplugh's links to notorious serial killer

The Metropolitan Police is examining the relationship between serial killer Steve Wright - The Suffolk Strangler - and missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, after they worked together on a luxury liner

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Klclevi]

I think Point 2 has absolute relevance to her disappearance somehow. How this relates back to a perp by JC as the prime suspect is really baffling though. BUT, its not impossible . BUT, his means of wooing her into some relationship I think are pretty low TBH.
If what she has said to her parents on the Sunday night about taking him to lunch and basically giving him the bird (In Aus we call it the middle finger - rack off dude not interested anymore sorry) , well could this be what occurred on the Monday?) JC did not have the means IMO. He had no money until his inheritance from the Uncle came in later which enabled him to rent the flat in Bristol, finance the BMW, etc. This all happened post SJL.

There is also an interesting piece (Apologies - to be transparent i have been researching every article i have been able to since1986 ) which in one says JC had no cash to buy clothes once he left prison and moved to Bristol (at which time he came into the inheritance) so he was existing on his 70's style clothing (ie the Kipper ties)



What i find it tad odd is that PL only remembered this information about the joint house purchase in Feb 87 (according to the news articles) and it p*d off the detectives at the time. Or maybe it bugged him but he did not think it was relevant ? That is entirely possible I guess.

Then this angle disappears from the news narratives to be replaced by something else. ( In Jan 87 it was the Belgian BMW Kipper sighting then in early Feb it was around the combined house purchase sighting)

Of course I know this is all from the media so its to be treated with caution and its clear that over the months and years that information has been changed to suit how the narrative is to be presented to some degree , or its just plain missed.

Is anyone able to tell me where the Boulevard Restaurant was located in 1986 please was this in Fulham?

I will reference these articles in the coming days for you.

 

[Lady Stoddart-West]

@Klclevi he had some money from father’s will/death (died 1985) there was some evidence he’d been saving & splurged in a short window before SL went missing apparently. Need to find source. Prime Suspect. CBD. I think.

His father had apparently set aside a generous amount to help him ‘go straight’ & get life together on release. If he spent all in a short window it might have been enough to give a brief impression of an affluent life to impress, reassure or at least not alarm SL.

AS tells us SL was in an unusually good mood early on (via SF) & later DV tells us she lost a hoped for or expected commission to NH & there was an argument. Could this have influenced a later decision? That final call ‘half sitting half standing’ at desk (AS) springs to mind. There were also x3 failed attempts to sell flat & lack of funds had prevented her travelling to NZ to see her sister although that obviously ££. She’d looked into being a courier to facilitate legitimate cheap travel to NZ (AS).

JC had discussed setting up a management consultancy & similar with AR & was looking at poss offices (Prime Suspect: CBD). So may have done similar here with SL.

 

[rvlvr]

Some excellent points on this page and the ‘confession’ by Cannan was definitely the highlight of Barley’s interview, though of course police are always keen to stress that we should never believe a word convicted prisoners say - except for when they’re saying what police want to hear! Was Cannan being genuine or was he toying with police? Without corroborating evidence it’s very difficult to say.

 

[rvlvr]

This also accounts for SL’s tense ringing around on MON am to try to locate her things and not detouring much earlier & going hot on trail days before.

I agree. It seems difficult to believe she lost these items on the Friday but it took until the Monday for her to become ‘preoccupied’ with finding them. Surely a smart, proactive woman would’ve called the restaurant and the pub on the Saturday morning to see if they’d been found there? Even with a busy schedule I suspect she could’ve found the time to retrieve them on the Saturday or Sunday. And apparently she didn’t mention being without these items to anyone that weekend?

Even harder to believe is that they were stolen from her, only to be found in the same place they were supposedly stolen from. The only way I can make it fit is if someone wanted to find something amongst these possessions but didn’t want to inconvenience the victim by not returning the items. But leaving them outside the pub doesn’t guarantee they’ll be handed in at the pub, someone could’ve come along, found them and taken them away?

 

[Lady Stoddart-West]

I agree. It seems difficult to believe she lost these items on the Friday but it took until the Monday for her to become ‘preoccupied’ with finding them. Surely a smart, proactive woman would’ve called the restaurant and the pub on the Saturday morning to see if they’d been found there? Even with a busy schedule I suspect she could’ve found the time to retrieve them on the Saturday or Sunday. And apparently she didn’t mention being without these items to anyone that weekend?

Even harder to believe is that they were stolen from her, only to be found in the same place they were supposedly stolen from. The only way I can make it fit is if someone wanted to find something amongst these possessions but didn’t want to inconvenience the victim by not returning the items. But leaving them outside the pub doesn’t guarantee they’ll be handed in at the pub, someone could’ve come along, found them and taken them away?

Absolutely, especially as the contacts book may have had sensitive & personal details in it NB: DV book. It’s the equivalent of losing your phone today. An additional question for Barley might be did the police go back to this contact book & trace everyone? AS said they gave up as too many to track - the same on BMW model seen outside Shorrolds. The task uncompleted as too many resources required & stronger leads to follow.

On contacts/address book, a newspaper search on phone numbers listed might yield a clue even now (?) -they certainly can be found in some cases. The joint purchaser presumably had some contact details noted somewhere (?) too.

AS said SL relayed stress at losing things to SF at time.

 

[Lady Stoddart-West]

Some excellent points on this page and the ‘confession’ by Cannan was definitely the highlight of Barley’s interview, though of course police are always keen to stress that we should never believe a word convicted prisoners say - except for when they’re saying what police want to hear! Was Cannan being genuine or was he toying with police? Without corroborating evidence it’s very difficult to say.

On JC’s ‘confession’ a few interesting points…

1. He mentioned this ‘Bristol business man’ buying SB’s mini from him & killing x3 women. SC additionally has long been thought to be a JC victim & evidence for this more compelling than SL IMO. Source: Prime Suspect, CBD.

2. JC gave the man’s name as H (not the most common surname) - same surname as DH - DH described by AS as SL’s most enduring love. Source as above. If JC a stalker & obsessed with SL with access to personal things he might have known this. IF the lost postcard was from him (DH) for example - he was overseas teaching sailing or similar at time. The police will know who the card was from or to, we don’t.

3. Barley said in podcast that on balance he thinks JC invented ‘Kipper’ as an alias. If so, not as other pedestrian aliases he’d used before: ‘John Peterson’ & H as flagged & similar others.’Kipper’ quite a marked deviation from MO if so.