Scotland Yard's cold case homicide unit have issued a last-ditch plea for information which may help locate estate agent Suzy Lamplugh's body - exactly 40 years after she was abducted and killed00:01, 28 Jul 2026Cold case detectives probing the murder of missing Suzy Lamplugh are convinced they know who killed her - but face a race against time to solve the 40-year riddle.‌Scotland Yard detectives today said John Cannan remained the "prime suspect" in the estate agent's 1986 abduction after years eliminating other suspects, including "Suffolk Strangler" Steve Wright. Convicted rapist Cannan took his secrets to his grave after dying in 2024 in his cell at HMP Full Sutton, in East Yorkshire, aged 70.‌Following Cannan's death, detectives sifted through his prison writings in the hope they would hold clues to unlock Suzy's disappearance. Despite failing to unearth any new evidence and a lack of forensics, it's emerged officers still believe circumstantial evidence makes Cannan the most likely suspect.‌It came as detectives also said they would begin winding down the 40-year investigation - one of the biggest missing persons investigations in UK history - and classify it as "inactive" over the next year. It means they have just months to trace 30 people who may have key information about the murder, in the hope of tracing Suzy's body.Today, in a last-ditch plea for help, the Metropolitan Police's Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Foster said: "Please help us find Suzy's body." Referring to prime suspect Cannan, she added: "I think John Cannan is a very good suspect. I think he's a prime suspect. He has been a focus of the investigation, but he has not been the only focus. There have been other names put forward over the last few years, but again, each of them have been eliminated from the investigation."‌Detectives admit they missed any opportunity to secure Cannan's confession before his death. Det Chief Insp Foster said: "Up until [his death] there were efforts made to speak to him again. So with him dying, we would not be able to bring justice anymore. And it's going to have to be forensics really to point to if he did do it. He's a good suspect, but I'm keeping an open mind."‌Cannan - who when he died was serving a 35-year life sentence for the 1989 murder and rape of Shirley Banks, 29, in Bristol - always denied any involvement in 25-year-old Suzy's disappearance on July 28, 1986. She went to meet a client known as "Mr Kipper" in Fulham, west London, when she vanished. Her body was never found and in 1993 she was declared dead, presumed murdered. Cannan was given the nickname “Kipper” by people at a bail hostel where he lived at the time of the murder — due to his fondness for the fish and a habit of having a “kip”.In 2002, Scotland Yard detectives named killer Cannan but the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to charge him.The cold case unit is sitting on a trove of evidence consisting of 3,000 documents and 80,000 pieces of physical material. Detectives are also still using the carousel card system with 26,000 entries from the original investigation - the only remaining Met investigation where this historic system remains in active use.‌Now, on the 40th anniversary of Suzy's murder, police have revealed they reviewed all DNA evidence from the abandoned white Ford Fiesta found less than a mile from where she was last seen. Seat tapings, fibres and DNA recovered from the vehicle during a forensics review in 2018 were sent for mitochondrial testing in the USA.It was hoped the piece of evidence may throw up some familial link but it failed to identify any suspects. Detectives now hope advances in forensic testing and artificial intelligence may help crack the case. Police have also been unable to identify a smudged fingerprint found on the rearview mirror and are yet to match it to a DNA profile on their records. It did not match Cannan's DNA profile.‌Digs have been carried out across the UK - including a 2018 excavation of Cannan's mother's home in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands - but no trace has ever been found of Suzy. Detectives also reviewed evidence recovered during a huge dredge of the Grand Union Canal in London as part of a police probe into the murder of 14-year-old Alice Gross in 2014. However, nothing of significance was found.‌Det Chief Insp Foster said: "It has been 40 years, we're not going to give up on trying to find Suzy. But it is difficult. It is going to take a change in forensics or technology, or a change of allegiance to someone with new information."Police also say they have ruled out "Suffolk Strangler" Steve Wright as a suspect in Suzy's disappearance. The 68-year-old serial killer - who is serving a whole-life tariff for killing six women - was said to be besotted with the estate agent after they worked together during cruises on the QE2 in the 1980s.‌But detectives say that since he was jailed earlier this for the 1999 murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall hey have spoken to SEVENTEEN of his crew mates who denied he had a relationship with Suzy. And police say he was on board the ship on the day Suzy vanished - with it docking at Southampton at 4.30pm - hours after Suzy was reported missing. Det Chief Insp Foster said: "There's nothing to indicate any sort of relationship between [Suzy and Wright]. So we ruled him out."Suzy's daylight disappearance made headlines across the globe and shattered the illusion of routine daytime safety. It permanently changed how British workplaces approach lone working and personal protection and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust - set-up to tackle stalking - was born. Det Chief Insp today said her officers remained "haunted" by the case.‌She said: "It does frustrate us. We've never found who did it. I think everybody who lives in London, can think, 'That could have been me'. I was 12 years old and I come from a small town in New Zealand. This was a huge story then, and it was just shocking. And I think we are invested in this, it upsets us because we're very close to the family as well." She added: "This was a big news story, a woman being snatched that from the street."Det Chief Insp Foster said: "Obviously, the key thing is always to bring somebody to justice, but that's likely not going to happen if Cannan is the person who was responsible. Our priority is finding Susan. We are 40 years on, so if it wasn't Cannan and if it was somebody else, it's likely they would be dead too. So for us and for Susan's family, it is about finding her, finding her remains to bring her back."Article continues belowIn 2024, Cannan wrote to the Mirror insisting he did not kill Suzy and accusing police of prejudice against him. He claimed to have an alibi for the day she vanished and said police had pointed the finger at him to "divert attention from themselves". Cannan said that on July 28, 1986, the day Suzy disappeared, he had been in Birmingham “treating my mother to a spot of lunch”.