Suzy Lamplugh 'saying' family remembers her by as brother says 'she would've made wonderful mum'

Suzy Lamplugh lived by the saying 'life is for living' and would have made a 'wonderful wife, mother and everything else', her brother says. Instead, that was all taken away as she was, presumably, abducted and murdered.

She vanished having attended a property viewing with a "Mr Kipper" in Fulham, west London in 1986. Eight years later she was declared dead - and presumed murdered. No-one was ever convicted and this week, prime suspect John Cannan took his secrets to the grave as he died in prison.

The 70-year-old convicted murderer and serial rapist had been jailed for life in 1989 for the rape and murder of Bristol newlywed Shirley Banks. Reflecting on Cannan's death and his sister's unsolved murder, Richard Lamplugh said her familiy made lives of their own after her death, but they often thought of 'Suze' - particularly on birthdays and during toasts to absent friends.

READ MORE: Suzy Lamplugh's brother says 'no closure' as Birmingham killer takes secrets to the grave

He told BirminghamLive: "We've all moved on within our family - as such. They say time is a good healer and in fact, it is right. We've made lives of our own and really it's just sad that Suze wasn't with us and she would have been a fantastic part of our family if someone, maybe Cannan, had not taken her away.

"Suze used to have the saying, and she said this to mum, 'life is for living' - that's what I remember her for, as someone who really enjoyed life and a very happy-going person who I think would've been a wonderful mum and wonderful wife - and everything else. I just feel she was a loss to society."

Cannan, who died in jail on Wednesday, November 6, always denied involvement in Suzy's disappearance and her body was never found. But an artist’s impression of Mr Kipper bears an uncanny resemblance to Cannan and he was allegedly known as Kipper by some prison inmates as he served earlier sentences before the Lamplugh case.

Excavations were carried out over the decades to find Suzy, including at the former home of Cannan's mother in Sutton Coldfield in 2018, but her body was never found. Mr Lamplugh said he would have "loved to have had known" the location of her remains before Cannan died.

The Metropolitan Police investigation is still ongoing, with the force saying detectives "remain committed to securing justice for her family." Mr Lamplugh said he was not aware of any leads police were following recently, but said the family were kept up to date with new developments.

He continued: "I do know the investigation now has a scant amount of information to work with and that, as far as I'm concerned, is very sad because of the investigation (into Cannan's previous offending) in the 70s, and really I felt they could've taken it a bit more seriously but we can't put the clock back," he added.

"We can't change that. They don't have an enormous amount of leads, everyone's getting older, their memories are not so vivid as they were. Justice would never have been served anyway. There was too much information in the public eye, there was too much out there.

"I don't think they would have got a court case. I think they would've had real problems. People have read too much. It would be difficult to put justice right so as far as I'm concerned the body is the most important thing now."

Responding to Cannan's death, Mr Lamplugh said: "I have mixed emotions. I don't really care for the man himself, I've never met him, I don't know him and I think he's done horrible things anyway so really, as far as I'm concerned, it's not a loss to society.

"But where I do feel is that if he did kill Suze, and that's an if - not a big one, the police think he did so I'm happy to think that way as well - then it would have been lovely to have just told us where he put the body. That is what I really would have loved to have known - that would then be a bit of closure definitely for us as a family, especially my mum and dad would have dearly loved to have had some closure like that.

"We've left a legacy with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust but really it would have been lovely to have had a body just to cremate and scatter her ashes where we put my mum and dad's. But we don't."