I DIDN'T KILL HER

Cannan accuses police working on 1986 case of 'prejudice' after parole bid fails

- DAN WARBURTON

IN his cell in a top-security prison, John Cannan wrote to the Mirror insisting he did not kill Suzy Lamplugh and accusing police of prejudice against him.

Cannan, in jail for rape and murder, claimed to have an alibi for the day Suzy, 25, went missing in 1986, and said detectives on the case had pointed the finger at him in order to "divert public attention away from themselves".

Cannan, 69, sent the letter to the Mirror through his solicitor just weeks after the Parole Board had ruled that after 34 years in jail he was too dangerous for release.

In his handwritten letter, Cannan says he wants to make a number of "points" in light of "recent publicity" about his parole.

SUSPICIOUS

He begins by declaring: "I was not involved in the disappearance of London estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh. I have an alibi." He claims that on July 28, 1986, the day Suzy disappeared, he had been in Birmingham "treating my mother to a spot of lunch".