Suzy Lamplugh prime murder suspect dies in prison Timothy Sigsworth, 11/6/2024 John Cannan, the prime suspect in Suzy Lamplugh's 1986 disappearance, has died in prison at 70. A convicted serial rapist and murderer, Cannan was linked to Lamplugh's case during a 2002 cold case review, yet his involvement was previously discounted. His death leaves many unanswered questions. The prime suspect in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh has died in prison.
John Cannan, 70, a serial rapist and convicted murderer, died at HMP Full Sutton, the Prison Service confirmed.
He was identified by detectives in 2002 as the likely killer of the 25-year-old estate agent who went missing in Fulham in 1986. The body was never found.
He was jailed in 1989 for the abduction and murder of newlywed Shirley Banks from Bristol.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."
It had been reported that Cannan was terminally ill. He was serving three life sentences for the murder of Ms Banks, the attempted kidnapping of a woman on the previous night, the rape of his girlfriend in 1980 and a series of other abductions and sex offences.
Cannan was first linked to the Lamplugh disappearance after he was convicted of the 1987 abduction and murder of Ms Banks. Her body was found in a stream in the Quantock Hills in Somerset.
Three days before Ms Lamplugh's disappearance in July 1986, Cannan had been released from a hostel at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London, where he had been serving a six-year sentence for rape.
He was said to bear a striking resemblance to an e-fit of a suspect spotted close to a property she had apparently been showing to a mysterious client called Mr Kipper.
But police discounted his involvement after he presented a series of alibis for his whereabouts at the time of Ms Lamplugh's disappearance.
2002 cold case review
A cold case review in 2002 led to police publicly naming Cannan as a suspect.
After he was named, a former prisoner came forward claiming Cannan had been known as Kipper by other inmates because of his fondness for fish.
In October last year, Canaan was denied parole after serving his minimum term of 33 years and 214 days.
A parole board ruled that the rapist's release or transfer to an open prison would not "be safe for the protection of the public".
The board found that at the time of his attacks Cannan was "preoccupied with sex" and "preferred sex to include violence".
Cannan's first offence was at the age of 14 when he indecently assaulted a woman in a phone box in 1968.