Police dig up garden in Suzy Lamplugh murder investigation

Police searching for the remains of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, who went missing in 1986, have been digging up the garden of a house in the West Midlands.

Officers have been carrying out excavations at a semi-detached property in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, where the mother of John Cannan, the prime suspect in the presumed murder of Ms Lamplugh, used to live.

The Metropolitan Police said the search followed "information received in relation to a historical unsolved investigation being led by the Met's homicide and major crime command".

The latest move could signal a breakthrough in one of the UK's most notorious cold cases that has remained unsolved for 32 years.

Forensic activity was focused in the rear of the garden at the site of a dismantled garage, which was built on a concrete base.

Phillip Carey, the owner of the home being searched, told Sky News: "We are very much the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"But if it does close the process for the family, at least something good has come out of it. If either of my children were missing... it's just the world's end."

Mr Carey, who bought the property from Cannan's mother Sheila in 1992, also said it was not the first time police had been at the family home.

The father-of-two said officers visited the garden over several months about 15 years ago before returning on Monday.

They did not dismantle, dig or remove anything during searches, as far as Mr Carey was aware.

Jim Dickie, the detective superintendent leading the investigation in 2000-2006, confirmed his officers did not dig or perform an "extensive" search of the home.

Suzy Lamplugh, a 25-year-old estate agent, was last seen on the last Monday of July 1986, when she left her Fulham office to meet a client, known only as Mr Kipper, at a property in the area.

She was last seen being joined by a man and walking away from the house. Although her car was found, police never got to the bottom of what happened to her.

It was as if young woman had been "erased by a rubber", her mother said. She was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.

Speaking at the time, the late Diana Lamplugh vividly recalled the phone call she received from her daughter's manager.

He said: "Do you have any idea where your daughter might be, Mrs Lamplugh? We wondered whether she could have called into home for lunch.

"I don't want to worry you, Mrs Lamplugh… but Susannah left to show a house to a client just before lunch and she has not returned. We just wanted to check anywhere we could."

Ms Lamplugh's legacy, however, has continued. Following huge media interest, her parents set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which campaigns for women's safety and was one of the first memorial charities of its kind.

The Trust said the latest news on the tragic case reminds them of the "importance of employers taking responsibility for the personal safety of their staff".

Cannan, who was suspected of her murder but never charged, in currently in jail for the killing of another woman, Shirley Banks, in 1987, as well as the abduction and rape of other women.

The Sun reported this week's search follows information received from another inmate in 2002 that Suzy was buried under the patio at the Sutton Coldfield property.

The paper reported he may have placed her body in an inspection pit before filling it with concrete.

Neither Sheila Cannan nor Mr Carey are believed to be under any suspicion with regard to the murder.