Cops investigating a woman who vanished 37 years ago have launched a forensic review in the hope a new technology will solve the case.
Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, 25, disappeared around a flat in Fulham, south west London, on July 28, 1986, as she was showing a client, who had given the name Mr Kipper, around the property, reports the Daily Mirror.
It is believed that hairs, fibres and body tissue samples found in Suzy's abandoned car are the focus of the new scientific probe.
Speaking last year, former detective Jim Dickie claimed that mystery DNA recovered from the white Ford Fiesta could belong to her killer. He said a small sample was taken from a fingerprint on the rear-view mirror.
When Mr Dickie was leading the probe in 2000, forensic scientists were unable to extract a profile but he is now hopeful that it could be possible.
The ex-Met Det Supt said: "I am unaware if the DNA sample from the fingerprint has been progressed and whether there is sufficient to test it without destroying it.
"My advice from the experts was that scientific advances may improve some time in the future and DNA science may develop to enable testing without destroying it.
"I am unaware if this is still the case or if a review and test have taken place and if so what the result was. Certainly up to two to three years ago this had not taken place."
A Scotland Yard spokesman refused to discuss what materials were being examined.
He said: "The investigation is still active with the most recent forensic review being this year."
Prime suspect John Cannan, 69, has his parole hearing in September and it is unlikely the work will be completed at that point.
The convicted rapist and kidnapper is making a bid for freedom after completing the minimum term of his three life sentences for the murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol in 1987.
Cannan was reported to be gravely ill last year but has since improved and it is understood he is no longer being treated on the medical wing of Full Sutton jail.
If his bid for a move to open conditions is successful, it might mean he is released in around two years.
Suzy was officially pronounced dead 30 years ago but Scotland Yard named Cannan as the prime suspect in Suzy's disappearance in 2002.
Her mother Diana Lamplugh died in 2011, and her father Paul passed away in 2018.
In 2019 cops spent two weeks digging in Pershore, Worc, but failed to find any evidence.
Suzy's company car was found by police at around 10.01pm on the day she vanished.
It was badly parked around a mile from the flat on Shorrolds Road that she was due to show a "Mr Kipper".
Cops say that the handbrake on the vehicle was off and her purse was still in the door pocket.
Suzy's seat was not in its usual position but pushed further back, suggesting that she may have been attacked in the car or she had not been the last person to drive it.
It was parked outside another flat being marketed by her estate agency and one theory suggested that she had also shown her killer around that property.
Police frogmen searched the nearby River Thames in the early days of their probe.
A woman fitting Suzy's description was seen by a number of witnesses leaving the Shorrolds Road flat with a man at around 1pm and getting into her car with him.
An artist's impression was of an "extremely smart" suspect wearing a dark suit with dark, swept back hair who bore a striking resemblance to Cannan.
Police described him as between 5ft 7in and 5ft 9in tall, white and aged between 25 and 30.
Suzy, who was 5ft 6in tall and wearing a black jacket, grey skirt and peach-coloured blouse, was next spotted by a friend with a man she didn't recognise driving north up the Fulham Palace Road at 2.45.
The investigation into her death is thought to be the longest running murder probe in the UK, having been active since the day she disappeared.
Mr Dickie has said he believes Cannan is also responsible for the murder of Sandra Court.
The 26-year-old insurance clerk's body was found in a water-filled ditch on the Avon Causeway in May 1986.
Det Chief Insp Rebecca Reeves, the senior investigating officer, said two years ago: “The passage of time has not weakened our determination to seek justice and get the answers that the Lamplugh family continue to wait for.
"They have always been supportive of our efforts to make progress in the investigation, and they have shown remarkable strength despite the immense sadness they have endured over the years.”
Timeline of heartache:
28 July 1986: Suzy Lamplugh disappears while showing a property to Mr Kipper in Fulham
December 1986: Suzy Lamplugh Trust established by Paul and Diana Lamplugh
October 1987: The Met Police investigation scaled down and DNA tests are conducted on 800 unidentified bodies
July 27 1993: Suzy is officially declared dead, presumed murdered.
May 2000: Police reopen case after tracing car that might have been used to kidnap Suzy
February 2001: Police search a site close to the Norton Army Barrack near Worcester.
April 2001: Police search the Quantock Hills in Somerset.
November 2002: Cannan is named as the prime suspect in the murder, but there is no prosecution due to a lack of evidence. Cannan denied any involvement.
2003: Diana Lamplugh steps down from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease following a stroke.
August 2010: Police excavate a field near the village of Drakes Broughton in Worcestershire.
August 2011: Diana Lamplugh dies
June 2018: Paul Lamplugh dies
October 2018: Police dig a garden in Sutton Coldfield.
2019: Police spend two weeks digging in Pershore, Worc.
2023: A new forensic review begins.
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