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

[Lady Stoddart-West]

@rvlvr a few thoughts on JC guilt or otherwise.

1. Where was he between Fri night & late the following week which he was first officially alibied? Barley says he showed someone a Bristol train ticket? The facts are no one could account solidly for his whereabouts including him.

2. The canal dumping witness. The man who saw the man who looked like JC was very convinced & tried to report to police who didn’t log, apparently, at time. He travelled to get a glimpse of JC at SB trial he was that dedicated & became even more convinced.

3. Is it JC’s MO to hold someone captive for a day or more? Yes re: SB. The call SB was presumably forced to make to work stopped immediate alarm. She called in sick. Had SL made him realise this was necessary? Did he alter his MO because of SL? He can’t have expected such a speedy police response re: SL & sought to avoid re: SB (?)

4. The mystery joint deal. Was JC the person encouraging her to buy a property she couldn’t otherwise afford? He poss had inheritance from father to look & act part long enough to hook her. Her parents thought whoever was behind deal was her killer. If she confided in her uncle she may have confided in others (?) Poss she planned to discuss with PSS over lunch. Presumably she needed to get her flat under offer asap. NB: x3 failed attempts.

JC had form for scoping out business ideas, property etc. NB: management consultancy AR.

Possible next steps for police & investigation:

1. Look again at DNA on hair found in sierra re: SC & SL. Techniques have improved. Rule a match in or out conclusively for both if poss.

2. If envelope exists for SC confession letter rule JC in or out for this re: stamp/flap. There’s fairly good evidence he killed SC & wrote this letter. Prove this, if possible & give closure at least to SC & family.

3. Contacts book for SL & diaries - look again at all numbers/names & search up in newspapers - small ads etc - with particular emphasis on the mystery ‘joint purchaser’. Is there a hotel number/numbers amongst them? Could that fit re: JC’s unaccounted for few days.

4. JC novels written in prison - get someone with a very detailed knowledge of case from earliest days to have a look at these. Has he left a clue?

5. Chequebook - as per diaries & contacts. Presumably all carefully checked in 1986 & hopefully rechecked re: Phoebus again in 2000 (!?) Who was she paying & why. All accounted for?

6. Postcard - IF from DH or diary entries proclaiming particular enduring love about DH, (AS/police said she loved him above all others - how did they know & did they pick this up from this postcard & contact book?) could this be why JC used his particular surname to pin murder of SL, someone else ‘and another girl’, on? Assuming JC had sight of these items.

7. SW - a current focus/interest as wife says it’s poss his feet on ground in UK/area. Were his contact details in her book etc?

Am sure others could be added.

JC’s banking & ‘hole in the wall’ cash withdrawal records

The police were able to put JC in Reading in 87, at right day/time, due to JC’s cash withdrawals on day. Re: DT.

They were able to get a log of JC’s movements by logging cash withdrawals re: SB in Bristol.

Presumably they tried & failed in July 86 re: SL? Was tech not there then.

@WestLondoner you said, I think you said Phoebus was about adding JC to list of suspects. Other suspects were eliminated (?) Do we know who any of the earlier others were? Any in public domain.

 

[EddietheEagle]

It's good to see the thread back on a more reasoned, logical path again.

Apropos the keys. If the appointment at Shorrolds Road was genuine, then obviously SL left with the keys. Had the appointment been a ruse, she would also have taken the keys. By all accounts, SL was artful. She wasn't, however, stupid.

Tales of keys not being taken and dismissing the statement of a highly experienced SIO regarding the keys, a detective with several successful murder inquiries to his name, is simply fanciful.

The keys disappeared along with SL, possibly kept hidden by JC as a trophy after he killed her, or dumped. Other keys were later found in his possession that have never been accounted for.

 

[Lady Stoddart-West]

It's good to see the thread back on a more reasoned, logical path again.

Apropos the keys. If the appointment at Shorrolds Road was genuine, then obviously SL left with the keys. Had the appointment been a ruse, she would also have taken the keys. By all accounts, SL was artful. She wasn't, however, stupid.

Tales of keys not being taken and dismissing the statement of a highly experienced SIO regarding the keys, a detective with several successful murder inquiries to his name, is simply fanciful.

The keys disappeared along with SL, possibly kept hidden by JC as a trophy after he killed her, or dumped. Other keys were later found in his possession that have never been accounted for.

I agree & think there are other areas much more worthy of our attention & focus. On balance I think I’m with you.

That said, what DV said about mechanisms & logging for keys & rather strange/inefficient practice of putting spare sets of keys on same ring as master - spot on, IME. It’s counter intuitive of course but was the reality.

The vendor had provided only one set of keys & it was a new instruction - not much time for admin wheels to turn & demand necessitating new sets to be cut.

There was a set of keys for 37 apparently still in office. If she didn’t take keys it points to a last minute plan or necessary ruse & being in somewhat of a fluster. That might fit with the half sitting, half standing call.

 

[Rookie D]

I know relatively little about this particular case compared to some the members on this thread, and I am grateful for your combined knowledge, as it feels very much like this thread is on the right track.

Could the reason why SL didn't take the keys, be because she wasn't looking to meet a client to sell, but rather, she was looking to meet another estate agent and was looking to buy?

Could SL have been the client herself?

If "Mr Kipper" was a faux estate agent, could he have been using a ruse to sell a property to her overseas?

SL then goes to meet him to discuss terms, but because she doesn't want to go through her own firm, she has to be discreet to some extent.

I apologise in advance if my approach seems rather discordant from the general flow of the thread, but sometimes I find that asking questions from someone who knows relatively little about the finer details of the case, can sometimes help to look at things from a different perspective.