John Cannan

John David Guise Cannan (20 February 1954 – 6 November 2024), also known under the alias John Peterson, was a British murderer, serial rapist, serial abductor and suspected serial killer. He was convicted in July 1988 and given three life sentences for the murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol in October 1987; the attempted kidnapping of Julia Holman on the previous night; the rape of a woman in Reading, Berkshire, in 1986; the rape of his girlfriend in December 1980; and several other abductions, attempted abductions and sexual offences.

Cannan was also the prime suspect in the disappearance of Fulham estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, who had an appointment in July 1986 to meet a man calling himself "Mr. Kipper" and has not been seen since. In November 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Cannan with Lamplugh's abduction and presumed murder. That month the Metropolitan Police held a press conference at which, in a rare move, officers publicly named Cannan as the man they believed murdered Lamplugh. Cannan said he knew who killed Lamplugh and stated that this person is the same person responsible for the murder of Banks, of which he himself was convicted. DNA evidence showed Lamplugh had previously been in a car Cannan used at the time of her disappearance.

In September 2023 Cannan became eligible for parole, which was refused the following month. He died in Full Sutton Prison on 6 November 2024, at the age of 70, from natural causes.