Unsolved: The mysterious disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh and Mr Kipper (man in a kipper tie)

By Family members of Lamplugh or friends, distributed nationwide in the media by the Metropolitan Police*

The disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in July 1986, is a case that continues to be talked about. How could a bright young woman in the prime of her life go to meet a client in broad daylight and never be seen again? No trace of the 25-year-old has ever been found.

At the start it seemed as if the police had a good, solid starting point. Written down in the estate agent's diary was the name Mr Kipper. Next to his name was the address of a property she was going to be showing him.

It seemed a simple task for the police to trace this Mr Kipper and find out what he knew about her disappearance. Despite their efforts they couldn't find the man named.

I remember the 80s well. Women were more liberated then than they had been in the 70's. Jobs for women didn't mean just traditional job roles seen as women's like secretarial and nursing. Not to say that there is anything wrong with those jobs. 

Despite the progressiveness, I remember one of my teachers - a technical education teacher - who used to smack all the girl pupils on the bottom. These days you would be charged with sexual assault but in days gone by behavior like that was ignored. 

In the 1980s there was one other thing other thing from 70s that remained. Men often wore kipper ties.

What is a kipper tie?

Kipper ties are broad ties known for having horrendously garish patterns and colours. When I think of used car salesmen I think of kipper ties. 

The police at the time did consider the possibility that Mr Kipper wasn't the man's name at all - or even an alias - but did her killer definitely use that name? Or was it that he told Suzy he would be wearing a kipper tie so she would recognise him when they met? Hence, she wrote down Mr Kipper not bacuse it was his name but because he told her that's how she could recognise him? 

Shirley Banks - murdered by a psychopath

Convicted killer John Cannan, the coward who abducted and murdered newlywed Shirley Banks has been constantly linked to the Suzy Lamplugh case. In prison, he'd gained the name Mr Kipper because of the big ties he wore but what if he wasn't the Mr Kipper Suzy wrote about at all, which is possible? 

Cannan's MO doesn't match the Lamplugh crime 

Arrogant Cannan is hardly a criminal mastermind. He doesn't come across as a planner. Instead, his attacks were more opportunistic. He seems to have crossed paths with his victims rather than have planned his vile crimes and arranging to meet the estate agent at a house would have taken some planning. 

Consider his previous known crimes. 

1. He used a knife on a shop assistant at a dress shop. Thankfully, passers-by intervened. 

2. He tried to abduct a woman at gunpoint in a car park the night before he targeted tragic Shirley. 

3. When he abducted Shirley Banks, she was out shopping. He took her back to his own flat and held her hostage before he killed her. Then, he stupidly put the tax disc from her car in his glove compartment where it was later found. 

Dumb criminal 

It seems inconceivable that he could have abducted and killed Suzy without leaving any trace. He just doesn't come across as smart enough. 

In short, he's too stupid to have killed Suzy and gotten away with it without leaving a trace. 

I pray that I'm wrong because if he didn't kill Suzy that means someone else did and unlike Cannan they're still out there. Have they killed again? Once killer's escalate they don't tend to de-escalate to lesser crimes. 

Hopefully, one day Suzy's body will be found, and she can finally be laid to rest. 

Attributions 
- Lamplugh with her hair tinted blonde, as it was on the day she disappeared

Original publication: Distributed nationwide in the media, July 1986 onwardsImmediate source: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/suzy-lamplugh-suspect-john-cannan-7178859, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71314872

She was wearing a violent jumpsuit - 5 Lessons I've learnt writing a novel (so you don't have to)

Writing a novel can seem like an arduous task.But there are ways to make it easier, especially with a bit of pre-planning and organisation.

This is what I learnt writing Vile City, the first book in my Detective in a Coma series.

Plan or you'll fail.

1. You need to be able to tell at a glance what's in every chapter. That includes plot and character development.

Unless you're blessed with a photographic memory (if you are, I envy you) there are a few ways to do this. You can have a timeline on paper or a spreadsheet on your computer.

I prefer to have a summary to go with each chapter on a Word document. I constantly update this and when I’m editing I print it out and constantly refer to it.

Get those character details right, or they'll be trouble.

2. If your characters are going to be in a series do a character profile for each character.

This should cover character, background and appearance. I reserve several pages in a notebook I keep for DI Waddell, his coma stricken pal DC Stevie Campbell (who talks to Waddell even although nobody else can hear) & Co for each character in my Detective in a Coma books. I add details as I write each book. I've just finished book three.

You need to have pertinent details of your characters quickly to hand so you can access them without slowing down your writing by having to search through text for that one detail that you need.

How many times have they been married? Do they have kids and if so what are their names? If they were in an accident who'd be their next of kin? What colour is their hair?

You need to know these things so you won't suddenly change your balding, thrice divorced, childless bachelor into someone with enviable hair, two kids and a first wife.

3. Keep a firm grip on the continuity.

You need to be consistent. No changing characters names halfway through your book. Keep an eye on the details - is your character sitting down when they've recently complained of a back injury and said they couldn't sit down?

In one of my earlier versions of Vile City, I had Shelley Craig who gets kidnapped in the book, deliberately leaving behind a necklace with a charm based on a Monopoly playing piece in one of the places she'd been kept. When my main character DI Waddell finds it the charm on the necklace had changed.

4. Save your first draft and subsequent drafts to at least three places (or four or five...).

We've all done it haven't we - toiled over our writing only to forget to save the new changes we've made or lost it all when our computer went nuts/was hit with a virus/decided that it hated us.

There is nothing worse than losing hours, days and even weeks of hard graft and somebody saying: "Hey didn’t you back it up?" when you sit there looking sheepish because you haven't.

That's why it's important to save your work at least once a day to at least three places - I send my work to two different emails, save it to Dropbox and save it on my laptop and tablet. That way if something goes wrong I won't lose work. I also save my WIP to all these places every time I do any revamping or substantial writing. 

5. Always edit on paper.

Trust me on this, when you read on a laptop or tablet screen you miss mistakes and because it's your writing your brain can trick you into thinking you've written something different to what you have.

For example - I once wrote that a character was wearing a violent jumpsuit rather than a violet one. Major difference. Don’t let your jumpsuit get violent:)

Butcher City - (Detective in a Coma Book 2) gets reviewed by Mystery People

  

Published by Diamond Crime, 
28 September 2022. 
ISBN: 978-1-91564915-7 (PB)

DI Duncan Waddell is facing the most bizarre case of his career.  It seems that a killer is stalking victims on Glasgow’s streets.  Men unfortunate enough to be caught are being abducted, tied up, force-fed, then strangled and their livers removed. 

The first indication is a reported kidnap – the victim is Kevin Drummond, a well-known career criminal, who has been found unconscious near a hospital.  When he comes to, he claims that he had been abducted, but had managed to escape - his story is supported by physical evidence, but he is very confused and does not know who he is.  However, he does insist that his abductor apologised for making a mistake.  Then another victim is found - Daniel Adams.  The investigation into this murder reveals some unexpected information, but does it support the idea of a serial killer, or is there something else behind the killings? 

During the investigation, Waddell, as is his habit, visits his friend and colleague at the Intensive Care unit, where he has been since receiving injuries which had left him comatose.  Waddell updates Stevie on his current case and they talk things over.  Waddell seems at ease with this unusual and unlikely state of affairs, but no-one else, staff or family, knows about it.  For them the question is how long Stevie will be kept on life support if there no evidence of any improvement in his condition. 

The story moves forward with a number of unexpected events before the individual ribbons of evidence are neatly tied up and provide a disturbing solution.  The characters are well-developed, all adding their own flavour and knowledge to the investigation.  Waddell holds his team together and deals with the twists and turns confidently.  This is the second in the Detective in a Coma series and it will be interesting to see how the storyline involving the actual detective in a coma is handled.  
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Jennifer Lee Thomson is an award-winning crime writer who has been scribbling away all her life. She also writes as Jenny Thomson and is an animal and human rights advocate.

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.

Butcher City is available on Amazon and all good book shops. Click here for details