Suzy Lamplugh's suspected abductor, known only as Mr Kipper, was described as suave, dark-haired and clutching champagne as he got out of his black BMW outside the house he had arranged to view in Fulham, west London, in 1986.
Yet he has never been found, and in October the following year the case was closed, though the file remained open.
As the years passed the police received countless calls from people claiming to have seen Ms Lamplugh in locations as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Greece. Police also travelled to Belgium to interview a Mr Kiper. He was not their man.
In 1989 police interviewed John Cannan, a convicted murderer whose former girlfriend had told police she believed he was responsible for Suzy's death.
She said that Cannan, whose prison nickname was Kipper, had taken a strong interest in the Lamplugh case. In April 1989 Scotland Yard said they had no evidence to link him with the case.
Then last November an anonymous phone caller appeared to corroborate information uncovered by a routine police review of the case, leading to yesterday's news that the investigation has been reopened.
