Exclusive:
Suzy’s desperate family wants John Cannan, aged 68, to reveal what really happened to their estate agent, as he is receiving end-of life palliative treatment in prison
The prime suspect of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh’s murder is on his deathbed, it was revealed last night.
John Cannan, aged 68, receives end-of-life palliative care at prison.
Suzy’s family will be praying that Cannan will finally tell them what happened before he dies.
He was named by police as the main suspect in Suzy’s disappearance in Fulham (West London) in July 1986.
He is serving a life sentence for another murder and has always denied any link to Suzy’s case.
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Cannan, currently in Full Sutton, East Yorks jail, is in ill health. However, he would have been eligible this year for parole.
Suzy’s brother Richard was unaware of his medical condition but urged him to reveal the truth before he died.
He said this to the Mirror: “I would like Cannan, if he does know, to tell us what happened to Suze. After all these years, I would like him to finally let us know what happened.
“It would mean a lot to the family.”
Suzy disappeared after she went to meet with a “Mr Kipper”A photofit of, which was later released, was used to show him around a house on Shorrolds Road in Fulham.
Her Ford Fiesta white was later found just one mile away at a Stevenage Road property.
The doors were left unlocked and the handbrake was turned off. Her purse was located in a sidedoor pocket.
In 2002, police finally named Cannan as the prime suspect in Suzy’s disappearance and murder.
However, the CPS said that there was not enough evidence to bring him to trial. Officers have conducted a series of digs in recent years for Suzy’s body, including in Worcestershire in 2019.
In 2018, the garden at Cannan’s mum’s previous home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, was also searched.
Three life sentences were handed to the ex-car salesman for kidnapping and murdering Shirley Banks, 29 in 1987.
Cannan received a whole-life tariff that was later reduced to a 35 year minimum.
Cannan, who was on parole at the time, spoke with Sunday Mirror via phone call in 2019 ahead of his earlier parole bid.
He said: “I had no involvement in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh.
“I am concerned the police will use Suzy’s disappearance to undermine my parole prospects.
“My concern is that smearing me has become the rule, not the exception.” At the time, Cannan also revealed he was suffering from partial paralysis and needed to use a wheelchair following a stroke.
He claimed the Met were “determined to use me as a convenient peg to hang the disappearance upon”.
Retired Det Supt Jim Dickie, who spent six years investigating Suzy’s abduction, said: “Cannan is still a suspect for the disappearance and murder of Suzy Lamplugh.
“He’s extremely manipulative and must not be trusted.”
In a previous interview, Suzy’s brother Richard added: “If he’s done it then I would like him to tell us her whereabouts and we can then bury her where we want to bury her, rather than where whoever killed her has buried her.
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“We’ve been through so many developments you don’t get your hopes up.
“You accept what comes and if you find her, so be it.
“Then we will have to cope with whatever comes of it.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said last night they were unable to comment on Cannan’s health.