Lamplugh police continue dig

Police are due to continuing excavating a meadow in the hunt for the body of murdered estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

Officers used a mechanical digger to create a shallow trench in a field off the B4084 between Pershore and Drakes Broughton, in Worcestershire.

They were preparing to use ground-penetrating radar to examine the earth for evidence it was disturbed more than 24 years ago. Two forensic experts, Professor David Hawksworth and Patricia Wiltshire, are at the scene advising officers on the search.

Miss Lamplugh, 25, disappeared in July 1986 after leaving her west London offices to meet a mystery client known only as Mr Kipper. Witnesses reported seeing her argue with a man outside a property in Shorrold Road, Fulham.

Her white Ford Fiesta was later found a mile and a half away. She was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.

The latest search comes after a potential witness said he saw a mound of earth there around the time Miss Lamplugh vanished. It is several miles from disused military barracks at Norton which were searched by a team of police officers in December 2000.

The area has been linked to prime suspect and convicted killer John Cannan, of Sutton Coldfield. It has been claimed his prison nickname was "kipper".

Cannan was released from a hostel days before Miss Lamplugh disappeared and a former girlfriend told police he suggested the body was at the barracks. He has been questioned several times but in 2002 prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to charge him.