Major update in Suzy Lamplugh case as potential new clue emerges – with urgent forensic probe launched
COLD case cops investigating Suzy Lamplugh's disappearance have launched a forensic review - hoping new technology could reveal fresh answers.
Estate agent Suzy, 25, vanished after going to show a client around a flat in Fulham, South West London, on July 28, 1986.
Hairs, fibres and body tissue samples found in the estate agent's abandoned white Ford Fiesta are thought to be the focus of the new probe, .
Last year, ex-detective Jim Dickie told the newspaper mystery DNA from a smudged fingerprint found on the car's rear-view mirror could be Suzy's killer.
Lack of technology meant forensic detectives were unable to extract a profile from it in 2000 when Mr Dickie reopened the investigation.
He said: "My advice from the experts was that scientific advances may improve some time in the future and DNA science may develop to enable testing without destroying it."
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A Scotland Yard spokesman refused to discuss what materials were being examined when approached by The Mirror.
They said: "The investigation is still active with the most recent forensic review being this year."
Suzy was due to show a "Mr Kipper" around a flat on Shorrolds Road the day she vanished.
But her company car was found badly parked with the handbrake off a mile away on Stevenage Road outside another flat marketed by her estate agency.
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The driver's seat had been pushed back out of its normal position suggesting Suzy may have been attacked in the car or not been the last person to drive it.
Her purse was found in the door pocket.
Witnesses said they saw a woman matching Suzy's description leaving the Shorrolds Road flat with a man at around 1pm and getting into her car with him.
A friend then said she saw Suzy with a man she didn't recognise driving north up the Fulham Palace Road at 2.45pm that day.
The man was described as "extremely smart", aged between 25-30 and wearing a dark suit with dark, swept back hair.
Searches of the River Thames took place in the days after her disappearance but the search was scaled down just over a year later due to lack of evidence.
Suzy was officially pronounced dead 30 years ago this month and presumed murdered.
In 2002 Scotland Yard named John Cannan as the prime suspect in her disappearance.
Murderer Cannan, who is also a convicted rapist and kidnapper, 69, will make a bid for freedom at his parole hearing in September.
He is finishing the minimum term of his three life sentences for the murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol in 1987.
The work to solve the riddle of Suzy's murder is unlikely to be finished by Cannan's parole hearing.
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He denies any involvement in her disappearance.
Suzy's parents Diana and Paul died in 2011 and 2018 respectively with no answers to what happened to their daughter.
Disappearence of Suzy Lamplugh
Timeline:
28 July 1986: Suzy Lamplugh disappears while showing a property to Mr Kipper in Fulham
December 1986: Suzy Lamplugh Trust established by parents Paul and Diana Lamplugh
October 1987: The Met Police investigation scaled down and DNA tests conducted on 800 unidentified bodies
July 27 1993: Suzy is officially declared dead and presumed murdered
May 2000: Police reopen case after tracing car that might have been used to kidnap Suzy
February 2001: Police search land close to Norton Army Barracks near Worcester
April 2001: Police search the Quantock Hills in Somerset
November 2002: Cannan named as prime suspect in Suzy's murder but not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. He denies any involvement
August 2010: Police excavate a field near the village of Drakes Broughton in Worcestershire.
August 2011: Diana Lamplugh dies
June 2018: Paul Lamplugh dies