Police dig up garden in Suzy Lamplugh murder probe

Police investigating the 30-year mystery of the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh have begun digging up a garden behind a home in the West Midlands, according to a report this morning.

Lamplugh vanished in July 1986 after going to meet a client in Fulham, south-west London. Although her body has never been found, she was presumed murdered and declared dead in 1994.

In 2002, police named the convicted killer John Cannan as their prime suspect. The Sun reports that officers are digging in the back garden of a property in Sutton Coldfield which used to belong to Cannan's mother.

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Cannan, who is serving a 35-year jail sentence for the 1989 murder of newlywed Shirley Banks, denies killing Lamplugh.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that officers are carrying out the search following “information received in relation to a historical unsolved investigation being led by the Met's homicide and major crime command”

After the mystery received significant media coverage, Lamplugh’s parents set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which campaigns for women's safety and works to reduce the risk of violence and aggression. It was one of the first memorial charities of its kind.