Police end latest search for remains of Suzy Lamplugh
POLICE have ended their search of a meadow for the body of murdered estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.
Officers used a mechanical digger to create several shallow trenches in a field between Pershore and Drakes Broughton in Worcestershire.
Forensic examination and tests with ground-penetrating radar devices were used in the hope of uncovering a shallow grave.
But yesterday a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed the search had been “negative”.
Experts began a painstaking hunt after a witness said he remembered seeing a mound of earth there when he was a teenager 24 years ago.
Police brought in academic specialists to advise them on decomposition and other microscopic evidence that a body may be present.
The search was the latest to take place over the last decade in the area of the disused military barracks at Norton. A former girlfriend of prime suspect and convicted killer John Cannan said he once boasted Miss Lamplugh was buried there.
Cannan was released from a hostel days before Miss Lamplugh disappeared and has been questioned several times.
Miss Lamplugh, aged 25, disappeared in July 1986 after leaving her west London offices to meet a mystery client known only as Mr Kipper.
On the day of her disappearance, witnesses reported seeing her argue with a man outside a property in Shorrold Road, Fulham.
Her white Ford Fiesta was later found a mile-and-a-half away. She was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.
Officers have examined thousands of lines of inquiry and conducted DNA testing on 800 unidentified bodies.
Although the case ground to a halt in October 1987, the file remained open and the investigation was actively restarted in 2000.
The Metropolitan Police said it “remains committed” to the case.
