Lamplugh suspect linked to killing

Suzy Lamplugh disappeared in 1986

The prime suspect in the Suzy Lamplugh murder inquiry was also questioned over the death of a Bournemouth woman.

Officers from Dorset Police say they interviewed John Cannan over the murder of 27-year-old insurance clerk Sandra Court.

Her body was found in a water-filled ditch on the Avon Causeway, near Throop in May 1986 - just eight weeks before Suzy Lamplugh's disappearance.

The news comes after Scotland Yard officers named Cannan, 48, from Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands, as the main suspect in the Lamplugh case.

We have always said there are parallels between the inquiries.

Detective Superintendent Phil James

Detective Superintendent Phil James, of Dorset Police, said: "He is one of a number of suspects in our re-investigation into the murder of Sandra Court."

He added that Dorset officers had been working closely with the Metropolitan Police who have been re-investigating the disappearance of London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

He said: "We have always said there are parallels between the inquiries and both forces have liaised with each other in relation to the two cases."

Detectives from Dorset travelled to Yorkshire to interview Cannan in November 2001 at a police station near Full Sutton prison.

Sandra Court was last seen alive when a taxi driver dropped her outside her sister's home in Downton Close, Throop.

Twenty-five-year-old estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanished in July, 1986, after going to show a house in Fulham, west London, to a man calling himself Mr Kipper.

Cannan was jailed for life in 1989 for the rape and murder of newly-wed Shirley Banks in Bristol.