UK UK - Suzy Lamplugh, 25, Fulham, 28 July 1986

[Terryb808]

Good question. I can only suppose she was being physically threatened. JC's MO, for example, was to make the woman drive at knifepoint to wherever he wanted to go. So the abductor presses a knife into her ribs and says, Drive to X or else. If she crashed the car or attracted attention she'd get stabbed.

What would stop her flashing her lights while driving to attract attention? I don't know. But by the same reasoning, the other conjectural scenarios - where she is removed from her car and forced into another one driven by the abductor - present exactly the same problems. How exactly do you force a woman into your car and if you trick her into it how do you keep her there without her attracting attention in the same way?

X of course is the place she is killed. He then needs to remove her car from that vicinity, otherwise once found, it identifies the crime scene. He doesn't have long. Once she's missed people will be looking out for her car. He has until maybe 4, 5 o'clock to move the car without risk. So he drives her car well away from where she died and dumps it. Perhaps that's where his own car was. Perhaps he just ditched it at random and walked to a busier road and got in a taxi or a bus.



Completely agree. This explains all those sightings, and the blonde woman seen with him but not identified is then SF, the office admin. All that's required is for witness HR to have got the time slightly wrong.

Some good points, on the attracting attention while driving, in the Penny Bell case she tried this & was noticed by several drivers.
All either took no notice or were irritated by what she was doing. The end result was that she was murdered in broad daylight in a busy leisure centre car park. No one saw anything.
I think people just don’t see things in the busy world in which we live.

 

[Terryb808]

Hi WiseOwl
You posted back in August and I copied it and made some brief notes, I thought I'd share them.

Another scenario I have thought of (not involving Clive the acting landlord) is this:

Suzi's car being parked in Stevenage Road has always caused great confusion, mainly because of the witness Wendy Jones. She lived opposite to where Suzi's car was found, and said at the time Suzi's car had been parked there from 12.45pm at least. This couldn't be true because Suzi only left her office around this time but the police believed her and went with this narrative. They seemed to think that she had parked her car there and then had got into someone else's car on the same road. However, these days Wendy doesn't think it was Suzi's car, and it might not have been there at all.

My Note
According to DV's book WJ's is an unreliable witness, Suzy;s car could NOT have been in Stevenage Road that early. Especially when you take into account the way it was left, clearly she was NOT the driver, so we have 2 possibilities:

1. Suzy was abducted immediately at Whittingstall Road and a second accomplice drove the car to Stevenage Road, in that case it could have been there from around 12.50pm.
2. The car was not in Stevenage Road until after 4.00pm, in this case Wendy Jones was wrong and it's entirely possible that Barbara Whitfield saw Suzy and the perpetrator heading towards Hammersmith.

There were two workman who were working on Stevenage Road that day between 9am - 4pm, and they both said they never saw any car matching Suzy's being parked on Stevenage Road while they were there. If this is true it would mean that whoever parked Suzy's car in Stevenage Road did it between 4 - 10pm. Also, it would bring Suzy's friend Barbara Whitfield's account into play, she had seen Suzy driving away from Putney in her white Ford Fiesta sitting next to a man. This sighting was placed between 2.30 - 2.45pm.
The highlighted section above fits with possibility No 2.

So if the Mr Kipper/Shorrolds Road entry in her diary was false, was she meeting this man at lunchtime instead? Who could he be? Why would she still be with him two hours after she left the office? And, if this mystery man was responsible for Suzy's disappearance, why park Suzy's car in Stevenage Road that evening?

My Note
We need to account for the couple seen in Shorrolds Road even if they were NOT Suzy and Mr Kipper, also look at who Suzy may have been meeting instead of going to Shorrolds Road, possibilities are:

1. The couple outside 37 Shorrolds Road could have been PSS & TS, as mentioned by LSW someone at Sturgiss could have looked at Suzy;s diary and told them where she was?
2. In the case of possibility No 1 we have to assume Suzy either didn't make it to Shorrolds Road because she was abducted before she could go anywhere, or:
3. She went to meet someone else, who could this be?:
   1. Looking at all possibilities, John Cannan could have deceived her and she may have been secretly dating him, she was secretive and wouldn't have wanted AL finding out?
   2. Maybe she was meeting the temporary PoW landlord to retrieve her lost items? This only really makes sense if:
      1. The diary contained something important.
      2. She needed the chequebook urgently.
   3. Suzy was meeting the person who was to give her the £3k commission / bonus, having said that we don't even know if this £3k actually existed.

Why abandon the car in Stevenage Road?
John Cannan
To me it makes no sense at all if John Cannan abducted Suzy and he was seen by Barbara Whitfield with Suzy going towards Hammersmith to then drive the car back to Fulham and leave it in Stevenage Road. At that time (unless he and Suzy made the calls to the PoW that afternoon) no one knew where Suzy was going or that she was missing, therefore, he could have abandoned the car anywhere.
Prince of Wales
If Suzy went to the pub to collect her things, or just to Putney and that's where she crossed paths with her killer, it makes perfect sense for the killer to move Suzy's car back to Fulham, it takes the attention away from Putney and as it turned out the police ignored the Putney area almost completely. Stevenage Road & Fulham football club could also have played a part in the choice of location to abandon Suzy;s Ford Fiesta. According to LSW the PoW was a popular drinking place for Fulham supporters on match days. The staff and regulars would have known of this location and this maybe why it was chosen.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Wendy Jones says there were no viewings for her house that day. The abductor may have seen another property on Shorrolds Rd and remembered a good parking spot opposite Wendy Jones' house

 

[Terryb808]

Wendy Jones says there were no viewings for her house that day. The abductor may have seen another property on Shorrolds Rd and remembered a good parking spot opposite Wendy Jones' house

Agree, my money’s on the perpetrator moving from Putney to Fulham. DV’s book and its conclusion really needs the police to take a look and either agree, or prove it wrong. Things would then move on.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Agree, my money’s on the perpetrator moving from Putney to Fulham. DV’s book and its conclusion really needs the police to take a look and either agree, or prove it wrong. Things would then move on.

I meant Stevenage Rd not Shorrolds Rd

 

[Pinkizzy]

Make and browse Freedom of Information (FOI) requests

We can check details for the case here

 

[WiseOwl]

Hi WiseOwl
You posted back in August and I copied it and made some brief notes, I thought I'd share them.

Another scenario I have thought of (not involving Clive the acting landlord) is this:

Suzi's car being parked in Stevenage Road has always caused great confusion, mainly because of the witness Wendy Jones. She lived opposite to where Suzi's car was found, and said at the time Suzi's car had been parked there from 12.45pm at least. This couldn't be true because Suzi only left her office around this time but the police believed her and went with this narrative. They seemed to think that she had parked her car there and then had got into someone else's car on the same road. However, these days Wendy doesn't think it was Suzi's car, and it might not have been there at all.

My Note
According to DV's book WJ's is an unreliable witness, Suzy;s car could NOT have been in Stevenage Road that early. Especially when you take into account the way it was left, clearly she was NOT the driver, so we have 2 possibilities:

1. Suzy was abducted immediately at Whittingstall Road and a second accomplice drove the car to Stevenage Road, in that case it could have been there from around 12.50pm.
2. The car was not in Stevenage Road until after 4.00pm, in this case Wendy Jones was wrong and it's entirely possible that Barbara Whitfield saw Suzy and the perpetrator heading towards Hammersmith.

There were two workman who were working on Stevenage Road that day between 9am - 4pm, and they both said they never saw any car matching Suzy's being parked on Stevenage Road while they were there. If this is true it would mean that whoever parked Suzy's car in Stevenage Road did it between 4 - 10pm. Also, it would bring Suzy's friend Barbara Whitfield's account into play, she had seen Suzy driving away from Putney in her white Ford Fiesta sitting next to a man. This sighting was placed between 2.30 - 2.45pm.
The highlighted section above fits with possibility No 2.

So if the Mr Kipper/Shorrolds Road entry in her diary was false, was she meeting this man at lunchtime instead? Who could he be? Why would she still be with him two hours after she left the office? And, if this mystery man was responsible for Suzy's disappearance, why park Suzy's car in Stevenage Road that evening?

My Note
We need to account for the couple seen in Shorrolds Road even if they were NOT Suzy and Mr Kipper, also look at who Suzy may have been meeting instead of going to Shorrolds Road, possibilities are:

1. The couple outside 37 Shorrolds Road could have been PSS & TS, as mentioned by LSW someone at Sturgiss could have looked at Suzy;s diary and told them where she was?
2. In the case of possibility No 1 we have to assume Suzy either didn't make it to Shorrolds Road because she was abducted before she could go anywhere, or:
3. She went to meet someone else, who could this be?:
   1. Looking at all possibilities, John Cannan could have deceived her and she may have been secretly dating him, she was secretive and wouldn't have wanted AL finding out?
   2. Maybe she was meeting the temporary PoW landlord to retrieve her lost items? This only really makes sense if:
      1. The diary contained something important.
      2. She needed the chequebook urgently.
   3. Suzy was meeting the person who was to give her the £3k commission / bonus, having said that we don't even know if this £3k actually existed.

Why abandon the car in Stevenage Road?
John Cannan
To me it makes no sense at all if John Cannan abducted Suzy and he was seen by Barbara Whitfield with Suzy going towards Hammersmith to then drive the car back to Fulham and leave it in Stevenage Road. At that time (unless he and Suzy made the calls to the PoW that afternoon) no one knew where Suzy was going or that she was missing, therefore, he could have abandoned the car anywhere.
Prince of Wales
If Suzy went to the pub to collect her things, or just to Putney and that's where she crossed paths with her killer, it makes perfect sense for the killer to move Suzy's car back to Fulham, it takes the attention away from Putney and as it turned out the police ignored the Putney area almost completely. Stevenage Road & Fulham football club could also have played a part in the choice of location to abandon Suzy;s Ford Fiesta. According to LSW the PoW was a popular drinking place for Fulham supporters on match days. The staff and regulars would have known of this location and this maybe why it was chosen.

Hi Terry,

Great post and some interesting observations.

On the subject of Suzi's car in Stevenage Road, there has always been great confusion over the time it was actually parked there. We have various witnesses giving different times on seeing the car parked where it was. I personally think the most reliable witness is the owner of the garage who came home at 5.15 pm and saw the car parked slightly over the driveway to his garage (this sighting was reported in the Crimewatch show in October 1986). If the workmen's account is also correct then the car would have been parked there sometime between 4 - 5.15 pm, which as we've both noted would fit in with BW's account of having seen Suzy with a mystery man driving towards Hammersmith around 2.30 - 2.45 that afternoon. Has it ever been said if any of Suzy's known associates had any links with the Hammersmith area at all?

As for abandoning the car in Stevenage Road I had mentioned previously that Suzy might have arranged to meet someone at lunchtime and this person had parked their car in Stevenage Road or a road near to it, thus making it easy to make a quick getaway when parking Suzy's car there. I do take your point though about the perp moving the car away from Putney to Fulham to take the attention away from that area. I suppose you could say the same for Hammersmith as well?

 

[Terryb808]

Suzy Lamplugh & Claudia Lawrence

Someone mentioned Claudia Lawrence and the prime suspect in her case Christopher Halliwell in the thread some time ago. I realise now that I should have known about her case as I was working in the Yorkshire area at the time, but the penny didn’t drop.

Anyway I listened to a podcast called “Wife’s & Knives” and this provided an excellent overview of the Claudia Lawrence case and from this did a little more research, this highlighted some interesting parallels with Suzy Lamplugh.

• Both had a first class education.
• Both had fathers who were solicitors.
• Both came from a wealthy background.
• Both had more male partners than would be deemed normal.

Looking at the case the police seem to have had absolutely no clues as to what happened to Claudia, she effectively just vanished, again just like Suzy. Then after a long period of time they came up with a prime suspect (Christopher Halliwell), and again like Suzy this prime suspect is in prison serving a life sentence and will never come out.

The point of this note is that in Claudia’s case she looks like she was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this makes me wonder if Suzy was also in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Professor David Wilson said he doesn't believe in coincidences when it comes to crime, I think there's a few here.

What does everyone else think?

 

[Terryb808]

Hi Terry,

Great post and some interesting observations.

On the subject of Suzi's car in Stevenage Road, there has always been great confusion over the time it was actually parked there. We have various witnesses giving different times on seeing the car parked where it was. I personally think the most reliable witness is the owner of the garage who came home at 5.15 pm and saw the car parked slightly over the driveway to his garage (this sighting was reported in the Crimewatch show in October 1986). If the workmen's account is also correct then the car would have been parked there sometime between 4 - 5.15 pm, which as we've both noted would fit in with BW's account of having seen Suzy with a mystery man driving towards Hammersmith around 2.30 - 2.45 that afternoon. Has it ever been said if any of Suzy's known associates had any links with the Hammersmith area at all?

As for abandoning the car in Stevenage Road I had mentioned previously that Suzy might have arranged to meet someone at lunchtime and this person had parked their car in Stevenage Road or a road near to it, thus making it easy to make a quick getaway when parking Suzy's car there. I do take your point though about the perp moving the car away from Putney to Fulham to take the attention away from that area. I suppose you could say the same for Hammersmith as well?

They say great minds think alike.
Agree moving the car to Fulham works for both Putney & Hammersmith, and when it comes to these two locations one fits DV's narrative, while the other fits the Mets prime suspect JC. My thoughts are that if JC was responsible he would most likely have had somewhere in Hammersmith or Acton to keep Suzy and this fits with BW's sighting also.

 

[WiseOwl]

They say great minds think alike.
Agree moving the car to Fulham works for both Putney & Hammersmith, and when it comes to these two locations one fits DV's narrative, while the other fits the Mets prime suspect JC. My thoughts are that if JC was responsible he would most likely have had somewhere in Hammersmith or Acton to keep Suzy and this fits with BW's sighting also.

The problem with it possibly being JC in the car with Suzy that BW saw is the timeline. I believe I've read somewhere (please correct me if I'm wrong) that JC was back in Birmingham around 5.30 that afternoon. If that is true then he couldn't possibly have been in the car around 2.45 or parked the car in Stevenage Road after 4.00 and then got back to Brum so quickly.

BW's sighting does put a spoke in a lot of theories about that day. I do tend to believe her though as she seems to be the only witness who mentioned seeing Suzy's straw hat in the back of the car.

 

[Pinkizzy]

I'm not sure about the link between Halliwell and Claudia Lawrence now - he attacked young women (20s). Claudia was in her 30s and may have been out of his range.

I guess SL may have returned home to Disraeli Rd and met her killer there before she was killed elsewhere.

 

[Pinkizzy]

Double post

 

[WiseOwl]

Suzy Lamplugh & Claudia Lawrence

Someone mentioned Claudia Lawrence and the prime suspect in her case Christopher Halliwell in the thread some time ago. I realise now that I should have known about her case as I was working in the Yorkshire area at the time, but the penny didn’t drop.

Anyway I listened to a podcast called “Wife’s & Knives” and this provided an excellent overview of the Claudia Lawrence case and from this did a little more research, this highlighted some interesting parallels with Suzy Lamplugh.

• Both had a first class education.
• Both had fathers who were solicitors.
• Both came from a wealthy background.
• Both had more male partners than would be deemed normal.

Looking at the case the police seem to have had absolutely no clues as to what happened to Claudia, she effectively just vanished, again just like Suzy. Then after a long period of time they came up with a prime suspect (Christopher Halliwell), and again like Suzy this prime suspect is in prison serving a life sentence and will never come out.

The point of this note is that in Claudia’s case she looks like she was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this makes me wonder if Suzy was also in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Professor David Wilson said he doesn't believe in coincidences when it comes to crime, I think there's a few here.

What does everyone else think?

In Claudia's case I really believe that it was someone she knew that abducted her that morning. Her car was in for repair so she had to walk to work, this was around 5.00 in the morning in mid-March so it would have been dark when she set off.

I think someone known to her had knowledge that her car was in for repair and that Claudia would be setting off to work early that morning. At that time of day the roads would be empty, a perfect time to abduct somebody especially if you knew their route to work.

So is it a coincidence that Claudia went missing when her car was in for repair, leaving her vulnerable walking to work alone on a cold dark morning?

 

[Terryb808]

The problem with it possibly being JC in the car with Suzy that BW saw is the timeline. I believe I've read somewhere (please correct me if I'm wrong) that JC was back in Birmingham around 5.30 that afternoon. If that is true then he couldn't possibly have been in the car around 2.45 or parked the car in Stevenage Road after 4.00 and then got back to Brum so quickly.

BW's sighting does put a spoke in a lot of theories about that day. I do tend to believe her though as she seems to be the only witness who mentioned seeing Suzy's straw hat in the back of the car.

Police said JC didn’t have an alibi, but they would say that. However, he always distorted the facts and when giving police an alibi he’d provide them with one that relates to another day.
If you think about it if someone is asked a year later about events that JC said happened on Monday 28th July and they actually happened two days later they’d probably agree with JC.
So it’s impossible to prove or disprove his alibi, DV believes him, David Wilson doesn’t, and feels JC is guilty, while I didn’t like his part in the recent doc, he’s still a first rate criminologist.
What goes against JC being responsible is his careless way of disposing of the victim. They are usually found, and he is attracted to water.
One thing that niggles me is that if the police truly believe JC is the perpetrator and have confidence in Jim Dickey, then why don’t they dredge the Grand Union canal at Gallows Bridge?

 

[WiseOwl]

Police said JC didn’t have an alibi, but they would say that. However, he always distorted the facts and when giving police an alibi he’d provide them with one that relates to another day.
If you think about it if someone is asked a year later about events that JC said happened on Monday 28th July and they actually happened two days later they’d probably agree with JC.
So it’s impossible to prove or disprove his alibi, DV believes him, David Wilson doesn’t, and feels JC is guilty, while I didn’t like his part in the recent doc, he’s still a first rate criminologist.
What goes against JC being responsible is his careless way of disposing of the victim. They are usually found, and he is attracted to water.
One thing that niggles me is that if the police truly believe JC is the perpetrator and have confidence in Jim Dickey, then why don’t they dredge the Grand Union canal at Gallows Bridge?

That's a great question, and I suspect the police would probably come back with an answer that it would cost too much money or that they don't have enough manpower.

It would be exactly the same regarding the cellar in the Prince of Wales pub.

Maybe one day they will get round to doing both but I doubt it.

 

[Terryb808]

That's a great question, and I suspect the police would probably come back with an answer that it would cost too much money or that they don't have enough manpower.

It would be exactly the same regarding the cellar in the Prince of Wales pub.

Maybe one day they will get round to doing both but I doubt it.

I agree, they must be stretched funding wise at the moment. Seems sad that if DV is correct this could reach closure for the family.
I wonder why DV has not organised funding to do this himself, after all he said he wanted to find Suzy for the benefit of the family in the first place.

 

[Pinkizzy]

I agree, they must be stretched funding wise at the moment. Seems sad that if DV is correct this could reach closure for the family.
I wonder why DV has not organised funding to do this himself, after all he said he wanted to find Suzy for the benefit of the family in the first place.

He could crowdfund his search for Suzy

 

[Terryb808]

He could crowdfund his search for Suzy

Thumbs up from me, I’m sure with the right PR he could do this.

 

[WestLondoner]

@Terryb808
Agree with everything you say re the car. It was ditched there, clearly in a hurry, after 4pm. Where the driver then went we don't know. It's a reasonable conjecture that he was the man BW saw her with.

I don't think we really need to pay much attention to Shorrolds Road though. If SJL didn't take the keys so didn't do a viewing, there was no reason to go there at all. It's not obvious why you'd have a meeting outside a random house for any purpose, whether to do with this mysterious "bonus" or anything else; and Mr Kipper and SJL were as we've discussed probably MG and SF. So she drove off somewhere else, and the police preoccupation with Shorrolds and the fictitious Mr Kipper meant that no effort was made in the crucial early hours and days to find out where that was.

I agree too that if she really did head off towards Hammersmith per BW's account, it made no sense for her abductor to then bring her car back and dump it right outside a house Sturgis was selling. The car might be recognised back on her turf, and in fact it was - by BW. The abductor may have parked his own car in Stevenage Road and later driven hers back there to retrieve his own, but it would have been safer and simpler to dump hers in another direction altogether, like in Chiswick or somewhere, then get a cab back to Stevenage. Of course, from Putney, Stevenage Road is indeed in another direction altogether.

The case that it's JC comes down to him having been roughly in the area at the time. That's really it. The other stuff - his supposed nickname, his BMW, no alibi, being from Bristol - are either based on the unsupported claim of one ex-prisoner, or are factually incorrect (he was not from Bristol, he had an alibi, and not until 1987 did he either move to Bristol or acquire a BMW).

Re Claudia Lawrence - I agree with WiseOwl that this was obviously done by someone who knew that day's departure from her routine commute. It is simply inconceivable that a predator could be driving around at 5am on the off-chance of finding a victim. After 100 times of trying that, he'd have given up. And she'd surely only have got into the car of someone she knew. I am always surprised that people are surprised that attractive women have a lot of blokes, and often several on the go at once. They do it because they can. The trouble is that the more numerous, discreet and casual these encounters, the harder it is to figure out which one took her.

If you look at DV's Twitter feed on this it looks like he wants to get some weight behind a campaign to search the site he indicates. It's not really a money thing; it's an access to private property thing. I struggle to think what's in it for a pub to let you open their floor up to find that a dead woman has been there for 35 years.

 

[Terryb808]

@Terryb808
Agree with everything you say re the car. It was ditched there, clearly in a hurry, after 4pm. Where the driver then went we don't know. It's a reasonable conjecture that he was the man BW saw her with.

I don't think we really need to pay much attention to Shorrolds Road though. If SJL didn't take the keys so didn't do a viewing, there was no reason to go there at all. It's not obvious why you'd have a meeting outside a random house for any purpose, whether to do with this mysterious "bonus" or anything else; and Mr Kipper and SJL were as we've discussed probably MG and SF. So she drove off somewhere else, and the police preoccupation with Shorrolds and the fictitious Mr Kipper meant that no effort was made in the crucial early hours and days to find out where that was.

I agree too that if she really did head off towards Hammersmith per BW's account, it made no sense for her abductor to then bring her car back and dump it right outside a house Sturgis was selling. The car might be recognised back on her turf, and in fact it was - by BW. The abductor may have parked his own car in Stevenage Road and later driven hers back there to retrieve his own, but it would have been safer and simpler to dump hers in another direction altogether, like in Chiswick or somewhere, then get a cab back to Stevenage. Of course, from Putney, Stevenage Road is indeed in another direction altogether.

The case that it's JC comes down to him having been roughly in the area at the time. That's really it. The other stuff - his supposed nickname, his BMW, no alibi, being from Bristol - are either based on the unsupported claim of one ex-prisoner, or are factually incorrect (he was not from Bristol, he had an alibi, and not until 1987 did he either move to Bristol or acquire a BMW).

Re Claudia Lawrence - I agree with WiseOwl that this was obviously done by someone who knew that day's departure from her routine commute. It is simply inconceivable that a predator could be driving around at 5am on the off-chance of finding a victim. After 100 times of trying that, he'd have given up. And she'd surely only have got into the car of someone she knew. I am always surprised that people are surprised that attractive women have a lot of blokes, and often several on the go at once. They do it because they can. The trouble is that the more numerous, discreet and casual these encounters, the harder it is to figure out which one took her.

If you look at DV's Twitter feed on this it looks like he wants to get some weight behind a campaign to search the site he indicates. It's not really a money thing; it's an access to private property thing. I struggle to think what's in it for a pub to let you open their floor up to find that a dead woman has been there for 35 years.

Great post, I’ve always thought that a number of people who read and submit are good at analysis and being totally objective. This is the only way any case this old is likely to ever be solved. SJL’s brother is such a nice guy when I saw him in a documentary it made me want to try and bring him the closure he deserves.
It seems DV may possibly be close, and to think it’s just down to access to either the pub or the network rail land at the rear is frustrating.
You raise a very valid point about SJL’s car, if DV is correct it could have been abandoned anywhere, so why Stevenage Road.
It seems to me that it was all done in reactive mode, that’s to say the perpetrator didn’t put much thought into where he left the car. To have his own car there would mean SJL would have met him somewhere nearby (maybe in the park), so the whole abduction would have been carefully planned.