Suzy Lamplugh’s brother has said his family will never have closure after the main suspect in his sister’s murder case died in prison.

John Cannan died in custody on Wednesday aged 70, the Prison Service said.

He was jailed for a minimum of 35 years in 1989 for the rape and murder of newlywed Shirley Banks in Bristol, with an additional sexual offence, attempted kidnapping and two offenses of kidnapping with intent to unlawful sexual intercourse.

In 2002 he was named the main suspect in the 1986 disappearance of real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, which he denied.

Lamplugh’s brother, Richard Lamplugh, 64, said he was “not mourning John Cannan” but rather had been left to mourn “the loss of him who once gave us closure.”

He told The Telegraph: “I never wanted to meet the man, although my parents did meet him.

“As far as I was concerned, it was a nasty job and I manipulated people. I knew that information is power and I wanted to keep it. “I wasn’t going to get on my knees and beg him for information.”

Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, after disappearing in July 1986, at the age of 25.

She left her offices in west London to meet a mystery client known only as “Mr. Kipper” to see his flat and was never seen again.

Her car, a white Ford Fiesta, was found abandoned in Stevenage Road, Fulham, west London, and police believe she was kidnapped and murdered.

Cannan was questioned in prison in connection with the incident. No charges were filed.

In 2018, police carried out excavations at Cannan’s mother’s former home in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, but found nothing.

Lamplugh, who was 26 and working on a fish farm in Hertfordshire at the time her sister disappeared, said: “We have never been able to properly mourn Suzy.

“It’s really sad that my parents weren’t there to even find out where she was buried. We would love to be able to find Suzy’s body and scatter her ashes where my parents’ are scattered.”

In October last year, the parole board determined Cannan was too dangerous to be released.

The panel heard that Cannan still insisted he was innocent and had not participated in any accredited programs to address the risk of reoffending while in prison.

It was said that at the time of his crimes, Cannan believed he had the right to have sex whenever he wanted, preferred it to include violence and wanted power and control over women.

He was a category A prisoner, those who pose the greatest risk to the public.

Lamplugh said he was hopeful Cannan had left some information for the family in a book he was believed to be writing, adding: “The police believe he did it, so I’ll take it. It is a fait accompli.”

He also said he thinks about “Suze” all the time, but especially on May 3, her birthday, and when cases similar to Suzy’s make headlines, such as the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021.

He said: “I feel very sad for anyone who has lost loved ones, but of course you find yourself thinking, ‘Well, at least they found the body.’

“We have never been able to properly mourn Suzy because in the days and weeks since, we continue to try to stay positive and hopeful.

“We wanted to believe that he had lost his memory or something like that. Then, as the months went by and she had missed so many birthdays, Christmases and so on, we had to be realistic. But at that time we were quite far from what had happened.”

The father-of-two, who lives in Aberdeenshire with his wife Christine, said the loss of his sister has made him worry about his own daughters, aged 21 and 17.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a helicopter parent, but of course I’m aware of the dangers,” he said.

“But I would never want my daughters to feel like they had this on them.

“My eldest daughter now lives in London and I worry about her, but I grew up in a city and I loved it.

“They have to live their lives.

“Suzy always said ‘life is there for the living’ and that’s the motto I want us all to live by.”