‘Evil found a gap’: Detective still haunted by cold case 40 years later

By Blaise Cloran

Four decades after Suzy Lamplugh vanished without trace the detective who led the hunt says "evil found a gap."

Mike Barley, 70, was a former detective sergeant who worked on one of the largest missing-person inquiries in British history - to try and find 25-year-old estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

Suzy vanished on July 28, 1986 after leaving her office in Fulham, West London to show client "Mr. Kipper" a property around midday.

According to the detective, the diary entry "Mr. Kipper" has haunted Scotland Yard for "years" and still remains a mystery to this day.

Suzy was never seen after that day and was declared legally dead in 1993, with no evidence sufficient for any prosecutions despite years of investigation.

Mike, who was working at Fulham police station at the time, said: "Every year on 28 July I have a moment where I reflect.

"As a detective I wanted to be able to deliver one of two lines to Suzy's parents and those two lines were 'we have found her' or 'we have got him'.

"I sat across from her parents and said 'sorry there is nothing more'. I watched them age and I watched other detectives grow weary with the case. It is personally something I have carried with me.

"We didn't succeed, this is not a success story. Evil found a gap.

"There was no blood, no screams, no witnesses, to suggest murder.

"16 hours after she was reported missing we only knew three things.

"One, that Suzy had left her office around 12.40pm, secondly that her car was found at one minute past ten, and thirdly that she had not been seen since.

"Now, 40 years on we still only really know those same three things."

Mike, from Buckinghamshire, explained that there were three possibilities that detectives considered while trying to find any leads on Suzy's disappearance.

He said: "The first possibility was that Suzy had deliberately gone missing, but we thought what young woman would go missing without taking her things which were back at the office.

"People go missing all the time and there are some people that take things with them because they want to go missing, so they pack a bag.

"The second possibility was a kidnapping, and the third was that she had been abducted and murdered."

The lead suspect was John Cannan, a convicted murderer and sex offender, as forensic evidence showed that Suzy had been in a car owned by Cannan at the time she went missing.

Mike was one of the detectives who interviewed Cannan on August 7, 1986.

He said: "I was told that Cannan can dispose of a human life with as much emotion as you and I can throw away a toffee wrapper.

"That really struck a chord with me.

"Come the interview I worked out a plan with my colleague of what to say, as Cannan liked to turn an interview round and control it by calling you by your first name. He used all these sorts of tactics.

"That interview cemented the thought and my belief that John Cannan is guilty of the abduction and murder of Suzy Lamplugh.

"My belief is not proof, it is just my belief."

Cannan was given three life sentences for the murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol in October 1987 and several other offences.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Cannan with Lamplugh's abduction and presumed murder. Cannan died in prison in November 2024.

Now, forty years on, Mike explained the significant impact that Suzy's case has had on conversations around personal safety and lone working.

He said: "Prior to 1986 people rarely spoke about personal safety and risk assessments for lone-working risks.

"After Suzy went missing lots of estate agents up and down the country changed their working practices."

Her parents, Paul Lamplugh and Diana Lamplugh set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust which raises awareness about personal safety.

He added: "That single entry in the diary haunted Scotland Yard for years.

"It is my belief that Cannan met up with Suzy and engaged in some sort of relationship with her. I do believe that they had some sort of relationship going on.

"How the name 'Kipper' came about we don't know, but I think she put that name in the diary as a cover to go and meet him and tell him she did not want to see him anymore."

Mike is co-author of book Suzy Lamplugh: The Inside Story of Britain's Most Notorious Missing Person Investigation.