New lead in Lamplugh case

Suzy Lamplugh disappeared after going to meet a client

Police have traced a woman who is believed to have information relating to the Suzy Lamplugh inquiry.

The woman, who identified herself as Mrs Butterworth, called an agency, not the police, with information about the case on 23 April.

It followed an unsuccessful police search for Miss Lamplugh's body near Nether Stowey in Somerset's Quantock Hills.

On Friday, Scotland Yard said they had been contacted by a relative of Mrs Butterworth and would speak to her in due course.

Suzy's parents have given DNA samples

Miss Lamplugh's mother Diana praised the woman for coming forward and spoke of her continuing sense of loss 15 years after her daughter vanished.

The estate agent disappeared after arranging to show a client around a house in west London in 1986.

Diana Lamplugh said: "I'm absolutely delighted, very pleased, as it might be an enormous help.

"I really feel grateful for people who come forward, particularly after such a long time, and I think it takes great courage."

Mrs Lamplugh, who set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said the 15-year anniversary was a difficult time for her family.

DNA tests

"It is a terrific loss," she said.

Detectives looking for the body are testing hundreds of unidentified bodies found since her disappearance.

The Forensic Science Service has taken DNA samples from her parents in the hope of finding a positive match with unidentified remains found since their daughter's disappearance.

They will create a national DNA database of unidentified remains as a by-product of their efforts to discover whether Miss Lamplugh's body could already have been discovered but not identified.

Miss Lamplugh, who was 25, has not been seen since she left to show a mystery man calling himself Mr Kipper around a property in Fulham, south west London.

Caller appeal

Her Ford Fiesta car was recovered the same day about a mile away.

She was declared dead in 1994.

Last May the investigation was reopened and an appeal was made on the BBC's Crimewatch UK programme.

The operation to check unidentified bodies to see if they are Miss Lamplugh's was begun by police with the Forensic Science Service a year ago.

National database

Around 800 bodies found around the UK since 1986 remain unidentified.

The team looking for Miss Lamplugh will rule out the bodies of men and women aged over 30.

They will then use samples of DNA taken from the Lamplugh family to check if any of the remaining bodies are Suzy's.

Once a DNA sample has been taken from tissue from one of the bodies it will be placed on a new national database.

Anniversary upcoming

Samples can then be taken from the families of missing persons and checked against the database to see if there is a match.

That would allow the families to know that the body of their loved one had been found.

The 15th anniversary of Miss Lamplugh's disappearance is on Thursday.

Anyone with information can call police on 020 7321 9251 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.