WEBVTT
1
00:00:06.290 --> 00:00:11.330
On the 8th of October, 1987, 29-year-old Shirley Banks went
2
00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:14.710
to a shopping center in Bristol, England, to buy a
3
00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:18.350
new dress. She would never be seen alive again.
4
00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.149
For weeks on end, it seemed that Shirley Banks had
5
00:00:23.210 --> 00:00:24.589
disappeared off the face of the earth.
6
00:00:25.890 --> 00:00:30.600
But Shirley hadn't vanished. She'd been abducted and murdered by
7
00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.299
a 33-year-old convicted rapist named John Canan.
8
00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:38.880
He had his mind set on abducting a woman and
9
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.719
assaulting her and getting what he wanted from her, and
10
00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:43.899
nothing was going to stand in his way.
11
00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:50.280
Detectives investigating Shirley's disappearance were merely scratching the surface of
12
00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:55.740
Canaan's twisted past, a sexual predator hidden beneath a veneer
13
00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.270
of respectability.
14
00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.569
Well, I think apart from the physical side, I think
15
00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:09.390
somebody who's pleasant, who's natural, who's relaxed.
16
00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:14.780
Of all the murderers I've investigated, Canaan sticks out. He's
17
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.459
a psychopath.
18
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.200
Simple. Psychopath.
19
00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:22.079
John Canaan was about to be unmasked as one of
20
00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:49.340
the world's most evil killers. John Canan is something of
21
00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.060
an enigma. After being arrested for the murder of Shirley
22
00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:57.140
Banks in December 1987, he was charged with a number
23
00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:02.549
of offenses ranging from rape to GBH. He's never spoken
24
00:02:02.709 --> 00:02:06.250
of his crimes, but Canan is suspected of killing others.
25
00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:11.250
In 2002, he was named as the prime suspect in
26
00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:15.990
one of the most infamous unexplained disappearances in British history.
27
00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:21.770
Susie Lamplugh disappeared in July 1986 and was never heard
28
00:02:21.830 --> 00:02:25.849
of again, and her body has never been found, so
29
00:02:25.889 --> 00:02:27.689
the family have had no real closure.
30
00:02:29.830 --> 00:02:32.830
I read all the material that the review team.
31
00:02:32.949 --> 00:02:38.229
Had regarding John Canan's offending profile, And the more I
32
00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.590
read into it and the more I learned about the
33
00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:44.379
Lamplugh case, it became clearer and clearer to me that
34
00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.300
the one and only suspect was John Canan.
35
00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:54.139
Many of Canan's crimes were only discovered after his arrest
36
00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:59.659
for an attempted robbery in October 1987. TV producer Nick
37
00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:03.300
Shearman was working on the BBC Crimewatch programme at the
38
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.590
time and forensically followed Canan's demise.
39
00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:10.430
There's no doubt that this case had a particularly strong
40
00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:12.949
effect on me. This was something that has happened in
41
00:03:13.050 --> 00:03:16.550
my area. I've lived in Bristol for years and years
42
00:03:16.610 --> 00:03:19.710
and years. I passed that house where he lived on
43
00:03:19.750 --> 00:03:23.479
a regular basis and it's very difficult to forget those
44
00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:28.860
things because the crimes were so appalling, really. If you
45
00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.719
rape someone, it's never going to go away for that
46
00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:34.939
person and it's not going to go away for those
47
00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.280
nearest and dearest to them. So Canaan has effectively put
48
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.500
life sentences on a whole number of individuals, not just
49
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:45.580
his immediate victims.
50
00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:51.319
Although convicted of offences against six women, including the murder
51
00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.969
of Shirley Banks, experts feel John Canaan still has a
52
00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:57.229
lot to answer for.
53
00:03:58.090 --> 00:04:01.870
I believe Canaan's committed many, many more sexual offences than
54
00:04:01.889 --> 00:04:05.610
he's ever been convicted of or that he's even suspected of.
55
00:04:08.009 --> 00:04:14.199
The killer's story begins in Sutton Coalfield, Warwickshire. John David
56
00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:19.699
Guise Canan was born on the 20th of February, 1954.
57
00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:22.560
The middle of three children, he was raised by a
58
00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.300
strict disciplinarian.
59
00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:27.220
He didn't get on with his father.
60
00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:32.269
There'd been lots of arguments and so on, and he
61
00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:35.230
very much orientated himself towards his mother. He had a
62
00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:37.129
very close relationship with his mother.
63
00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:43.019
Coming from an affluent background, Kanaan attended a private school
64
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.300
where he claimed he was sexually assaulted by a teacher.
65
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.069
And by the time he was a teenager, Kanaan himself
66
00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:52.529
was about to commit a similar offence.
67
00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:58.930
He commits his first sex crime at the age of 14.
68
00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:02.339
He assaults a woman in a phone box and he
69
00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:03.480
gets a year's probation.
70
00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:08.610
This is a very young age to be offending. And
71
00:05:08.649 --> 00:05:12.529
very often, people who engage in sexual assault-type behaviors, the
72
00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:14.709
first time that they're caught by the police is not
73
00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:17.209
the first time that they've engaged in this kind of behavior.
74
00:05:17.649 --> 00:05:19.990
So it would suggest that he'd been doing this kind
75
00:05:20.029 --> 00:05:21.769
of thing before then as well.
76
00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:27.120
After a short stint in the Merchant Navy, he went
77
00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:28.939
to work with his father in a car showroom.
78
00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:29.800
By 1980, 26-year-old Canan.
79
00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:38.310
Was married with a daughter, but that didn't stop him
80
00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:40.980
from becoming a self-proclaimed Lothario.
81
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.779
Canaan really does like to make out that he's some
82
00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:48.279
kind of Romeo figure, that he's somebody who women fall
83
00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:51.939
over themselves for. So he will quote figures of having
84
00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:57.000
had over 101 nightstands. He likes to be this kind
85
00:05:57.050 --> 00:06:01.730
of character. Fundamentally, he's got a very strong narcissistic streak
86
00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:02.170
to him.
87
00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:04.069
He was a flirt.
88
00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.600
On one particular occasion, he was walking past an off-licence
89
00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.439
and he saw a beautiful girl in there and he
90
00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:14.079
went and bought some flowers and then went in and said,
91
00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:16.220
I'm having a rather nice party tonight. I'd like to
92
00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.720
buy a couple of bottles of wine. And he gave
93
00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:21.959
her these flowers and she was swept off her feet.
94
00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:27.089
There could be no denying he is extremely attractive to
95
00:06:27.149 --> 00:06:32.050
many women. But he is also absolutely dangerous to them.
96
00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:38.930
By December 1980, Kinnan had separated from his wife and
97
00:06:38.949 --> 00:06:42.810
was living with a new girlfriend. But after growing jealous
98
00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:47.100
of her relationship with her ex-husband, he flew into a rage.
99
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:53.959
He launched an astonishingly vicious attack, strangling her, raping her,
100
00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.750
and subjecting her to a series of disgracefully humiliating sexual attacks.
101
00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:07.170
It's too painful almost to talk about. He sodomises her.
102
00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:11.589
It's a disgraceful, disgraceful attack. And she has to go
103
00:07:11.629 --> 00:07:16.439
to hospital. She's got internal injuries. I mean, she's suffered
104
00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:19.019
at the hands of a man whom she's invited into
105
00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:19.439
her house.
106
00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:23.709
She didn't make a complaint at that time because she
107
00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:26.110
was too terrified that he'd come back.
108
00:07:27.889 --> 00:07:31.949
Just three months after attacking his partner, John Canan was
109
00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:35.310
ready to take his sexual crimes to a new level.
110
00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.980
In March 1981, he had his sights set on the
111
00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:43.639
owner of a ladies' clothing shop in his hometown of
112
00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:44.680
Sutton Coalfield.
113
00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:48.639
He walked into the knitwear shop with a knife and
114
00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:53.750
held up the woman who was then behind the counter.
115
00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:56.069
And.
116
00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.660
The lady has got a 17-month-old child with her, and
117
00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:01.800
she happens to be pregnant.
118
00:08:03.750 --> 00:08:05.949
Before he could lock the door of the shop, in
119
00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:07.670
walks the woman's mother.
120
00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:12.050
So there are three generations of a family all within
121
00:08:12.230 --> 00:08:16.810
this same shop, and Kenan is threatening. He has a knife.
122
00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:21.129
He's a scary-looking individual. He can be incredibly overpowering and
123
00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:24.360
incredibly domineering, and he makes it very clear what he
124
00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:28.500
wants from this woman. And the grandmother pleads with him
125
00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:30.959
not to do this, don't do this in front of
126
00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.659
my grandchild. And she says, my daughter's pregnant, please don't
127
00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:35.100
do this.
128
00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:41.570
He subjects the woman to hideous sexual attacks, even though
129
00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:45.830
the baby is still there and is bawling his head off.
130
00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.129
In the midst of this, the husband phones the shop
131
00:08:51.210 --> 00:08:54.230
and John Conan panics and cuts the telephone line.
132
00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:00.059
Worried for his wife's safety, the pregnant woman's husband arrived
133
00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:02.919
at the shop and tried to force his way through
134
00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:07.210
the locked door. But Canan escaped out the back.
135
00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:12.570
Heavily traumatized, the victim is still able to give police
136
00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:17.129
a clear picture of the man who attacked her.
137
00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:20.909
And it doesn't take very long for there to be
138
00:09:20.950 --> 00:09:26.399
a perfectly good photo fit. constructed by the police, of Kanan,
139
00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:30.679
who's described as between 25 and 30, having dark eyes
140
00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:33.179
and eyebrows that meet above his nose.
141
00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:39.090
Within a week, police had found Kanan, despite an attempt
142
00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:43.590
to disguise himself by shaving between his distinctive eyebrows.
143
00:09:44.830 --> 00:09:48.039
After lengthy interviews about the case, denying it and denying it,
144
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:53.580
he did eventually admit his guilt about that incident. And
145
00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:58.269
equally bizarrely, if not typically, he told the officers what
146
00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:01.149
a good job they'd done. I mean, he really was
147
00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:05.669
both pompous and patronising and had this veneer of arrogance
148
00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:06.230
about him.
149
00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:11.549
After serving five years of an eight-year sentence for his crimes,
150
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.220
John Canan was released, but he was far from rehabilitated.
151
00:10:17.029 --> 00:10:21.549
In October 1986, he was in Reading with another victim
152
00:10:22.190 --> 00:10:22.909
in his sights.
153
00:10:23.830 --> 00:10:25.970
He attacks a woman who is sitting in a car
154
00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:27.909
reading a book quite late at night.
155
00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:32.409
And he came up to her, opened the window, asked
156
00:10:32.429 --> 00:10:34.549
for directions to a particular street.
157
00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:39.289
Do you know the way to Balfour Drive? She was
158
00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:40.600
about to say no, but then he said, oh, have
159
00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:42.460
you got an A to Z? And as she turned
160
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:44.879
to look in the car for an A to Z,
161
00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:45.779
suddenly he was in there.
162
00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:50.940
Armed with a knife, Canaan put on a balaclava, drove
163
00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.440
the woman to a remote spot and raped her. He
164
00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:58.620
then wiped down the surfaces inside the car before calmly
165
00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:01.600
driving her back to where he had abducted her.
166
00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:07.799
Even more chillingly, as he abandons her, he says to her,
167
00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:13.190
with a slight smirk, take care and be good, but
168
00:11:13.230 --> 00:11:14.629
if you can't be good, be careful.
169
00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:23.440
But Canand hadn't been as thorough as he'd hoped. Forensic
170
00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:28.309
tests gave investigators a glimmer of hope in finding the rapist.
171
00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:32.769
The semen stains on the victim's clothing could only match
172
00:11:32.990 --> 00:11:37.149
Canand to a one in 2,000 chance, which is clearly
173
00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:38.889
insufficient to bring before a jury.
174
00:11:40.370 --> 00:11:43.559
So, unfortunately, they didn't have the forensics, they didn't have
175
00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.240
the ID.
176
00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:45.700
They had to.
177
00:11:49.009 --> 00:11:53.889
That rape, to some extent, gave Cannon the feeling that
178
00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:58.309
he was impregnable, that he was always capable of getting
179
00:11:58.370 --> 00:11:58.850
away with it.
180
00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:02.379
Every time they do it, it escalates.
181
00:12:02.700 --> 00:12:04.169
And in the end, they don't want to get caught
182
00:12:04.629 --> 00:12:07.960
because if they let the victims go, the victims become
183
00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:12.700
witnesses and they give evidence and then, of course, they
184
00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.720
get convicted and they get sent to prison. If you
185
00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:18.899
murder them, and you get away with it, you're scot-free.
186
00:12:20.179 --> 00:12:26.610
Feeling untouchable, John Canan was ready to strike again. On
187
00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.830
the 8th of October, 29-year-old newlywed Shirley Banks drove her
188
00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:36.070
orange Mini into Bristol town centre and headed to a
189
00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:37.090
department store.
190
00:12:37.649 --> 00:12:40.610
On that evening, she had plans to go shopping and
191
00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:44.870
possibly some drinks with her friends. In particular, she wanted
192
00:12:44.909 --> 00:12:48.200
to go to the Broadway... in the centre of Bristol,
193
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:50.919
and she had an eye on a particular blue and
194
00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:54.620
white dress, which, when she bought it, was placed in
195
00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:58.019
a large Topshop bag, larger than normal for a dress
196
00:12:58.070 --> 00:12:58.620
of that size.
197
00:12:59.929 --> 00:13:04.450
Shirley left the shop at around 7.30pm, but she never
198
00:13:04.529 --> 00:13:07.830
arrived to meet her friends for a drink, nor did
199
00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:08.929
she return home.
200
00:13:10.490 --> 00:13:13.269
Her husband came home that night, knew she was going
201
00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:16.830
to be late, so didn't think anything of it. then
202
00:13:16.870 --> 00:13:19.179
went to the local pub, asked if they'd seen her,
203
00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:22.149
and they hadn't. I think he eventually fell asleep.
204
00:13:25.950 --> 00:13:29.850
The following morning, he phoned her work and was astonished
205
00:13:29.909 --> 00:13:35.100
to hear that she had phoned in that morning sick. Well,
206
00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.909
he knew that was wrong, that something was up.
207
00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:44.960
Unfortunately, Richard's instincts were correct. Shirley Banks had been abducted
208
00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:46.279
by John Canan.
209
00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:49.970
Shirley, I think, was forced into making that phone call.
210
00:13:50.289 --> 00:13:53.629
And this is pure supposition. And I think probably Shirley
211
00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:58.000
was fear of her life, probably went along with what
212
00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:02.240
he wanted initially, but obviously came to a point where
213
00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:04.879
she knew this was going to end badly.
214
00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:09.830
This would have been absolutely terrifying for Shirley because on
215
00:14:09.870 --> 00:14:13.590
a minute to minute basis, she's assessing the situation. She's
216
00:14:13.629 --> 00:14:15.889
figuring out what it is that she needs to do
217
00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:19.450
to keep herself safe, to keep herself alive. So absolutely
218
00:14:19.590 --> 00:14:23.269
horrifying situation to be in. From Kenan's perspective, on the
219
00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:25.450
other hand, he is loving this because he is 100%
220
00:14:25.450 --> 00:14:29.580
in control of what is going on. He has got
221
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:33.399
a victim here who is perhaps pleading with him, perhaps
222
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.179
begging for her life, complying with all of his instructions.
223
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.139
So he's feeling quite good right now.
224
00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:47.669
On 9th October 1987, Richard Banks reported his wife as missing.
225
00:14:48.889 --> 00:14:51.169
The police were confronted with the fact that there was
226
00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:54.309
a missing woman, a woman who would almost certainly either
227
00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:58.340
be at home or at work, and is now clearly missing.
228
00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:02.120
She had an orange Mini Clubman, a very distinctive car,
229
00:15:02.529 --> 00:15:03.529
no sign of that either.
230
00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:05.389
Has she been abducted?
231
00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:13.259
Shirley had seemingly vanished into thin air. As the police
232
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.779
exhausted all avenues, four days after her disappearance, a nationwide
233
00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:22.980
appeal was put out. Where was Shirley Banks?
234
00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:27.980
The police, you know, were getting nowhere, quite frankly. And
235
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.070
so they came to Crime Watch. Initially, we did an
236
00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.710
incident desk on it, just really telling the basic story
237
00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:38.169
in a very short space of time. That didn't really
238
00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:42.649
produce very much either. As things gathered pace, they realised
239
00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:47.250
that they had a major investigation on their hands, and
240
00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:49.980
then they threw really everything into it. I mean, they
241
00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.779
even got the RAF to take infrared photographs of Lee
242
00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.740
Woods nearby, in case there was a body there. They
243
00:15:56.779 --> 00:16:00.289
did They did all sorts of things. But Shirley was
244
00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:04.269
nowhere to be found. One of the big issues for
245
00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:06.990
them as the case progressed was that they didn't have
246
00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:07.389
a body.
247
00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:12.720
As the hunt for Shirley continued, John Canan headed far
248
00:16:12.789 --> 00:16:17.299
away from the center of the investigation. 70 miles north
249
00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:20.799
of Bristol, he was hunting for another victim.
250
00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:25.340
Three weeks on from Shirley Banks going missing, no sign
251
00:16:25.379 --> 00:16:29.610
of her at all. John Canaan moves his focus of
252
00:16:29.649 --> 00:16:35.299
attention away from Bristol to Leamington Spa, close to Sutton Caulfield,
253
00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:40.080
an area he knows particularly well. There's a shop called Ginger.
254
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:43.120
John Canaan enters the shop, and this is an eerie
255
00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:47.639
reflection of what happened in 1981. Six years later, John
256
00:16:47.659 --> 00:16:50.909
Canaan is similarly intent on rape.
257
00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:55.509
You can see certain patterns and certain things recurring, and
258
00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:58.470
at Leamington Spa, he once again went into a ladies'
259
00:16:58.529 --> 00:17:01.149
dress shop and held a woman at knife point.
260
00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.599
Wearing a motorcycle helmet to hide his identity, Canaan's actions
261
00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:10.880
seemed to echo the horrific attack of his past.
262
00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:15.240
I think Canaan was convinced that once he had made
263
00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:17.420
his way into that shop and he had threatened the
264
00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:19.720
women inside it, that he was going to be able
265
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.640
to rape and sexually assault one or both of them.
266
00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.220
But one of the women, when she went to lock
267
00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:28.359
the door, as Canan had instructed her to do, used
268
00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.059
that as an opportunity to actually flee the shop.
269
00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:36.450
Canan, unsuccessful in his attempts, dashes for the door to
270
00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:37.269
make good his escape.
271
00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:41.769
But John Canan should have run a lot faster than
272
00:17:41.809 --> 00:17:45.150
he did because two or three guys walking down the
273
00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:48.589
street heard these girls scream. They saw Canan running away,
274
00:17:48.670 --> 00:17:52.730
and they chased him. And after a cat-and-mouse chase around
275
00:17:52.750 --> 00:17:56.650
Leamington Spa, the police pounced, and they got him.
276
00:17:59.730 --> 00:18:04.319
John Canan was finally behind bars, but detectives had no
277
00:18:04.450 --> 00:18:07.640
idea they'd arrested the man who was responsible for the
278
00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:11.380
disappearance of Shirley Banks just three weeks earlier.
279
00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:16.680
Warwickshire Police thought they had in custody an armed robber.
280
00:18:18.170 --> 00:18:20.130
When they arrested him, they found the car keys, which
281
00:18:20.150 --> 00:18:23.680
was a BMW parked near the ginger shop. What they
282
00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:27.619
had no idea was what was inside that car. It
283
00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:32.059
was an absolute treasure trove of evidence involving handcuffs and
284
00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:36.539
rope and an imitation gun. But most importantly, it had
285
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.829
the tax disc from Shirley Banks' car.
286
00:18:42.309 --> 00:18:44.470
Now, why is he holding on to this? Because it's
287
00:18:44.549 --> 00:18:48.460
a piece of incredibly incriminating evidence. I don't think he
288
00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:50.799
ever thought he was going to get caught, so he
289
00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:54.700
wasn't really thinking about the implications of it. He'd kept
290
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:58.720
this tax disc as a memento, as something to remember
291
00:18:58.900 --> 00:18:59.740
this crime by.
292
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.759
Also in the car was a large Topshop bag, similar
293
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.480
to the one Shirley had been given when she bought
294
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.960
her new dress on that fateful night. Aware that Shirley
295
00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:19.250
Banks was currently missing, Wallachshire police contacted their colleagues in Bristol. Finally,
296
00:19:19.490 --> 00:19:22.049
investigators had a breakthrough in the case.
297
00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:25.730
Avon and Somerset police drove up to Leamington Spa the
298
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:29.660
evening of the next day, and they drove him back
299
00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:35.559
to Bristol that same night. Canan spent the whole time talking.
300
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.019
Most people now just say no comment, but he insisted
301
00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:42.880
on talking endlessly in the back seat of the car,
302
00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:47.430
kind of justifying himself and explaining what kind of a
303
00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:48.170
man he was.
304
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:49.950
Hello?
305
00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:53.720
Had also found another major piece of the puzzle at
306
00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:59.369
Canaan's Bristol home, Shirley Banks's distinctive car.
307
00:20:00.769 --> 00:20:05.349
The orange Mini Clubman is found in the lock-up garages
308
00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:11.569
beneath Foy House, where Canaan is living. It's been painted blue, hand-painted,
309
00:20:11.609 --> 00:20:14.650
it's not been sprayed, and he's changed the number plate.
310
00:20:16.609 --> 00:20:20.319
As soon as Jean Calan is questioned, he denies any
311
00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.279
connection with Shirley Banks whatsoever, claims he'd never met her
312
00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:27.259
at all. He came up with this wonderful creative account
313
00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:30.519
of how he had bought this car in good faith
314
00:20:30.769 --> 00:20:31.349
at an auction.
315
00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:35.369
So he makes up this narrative, I bought it at
316
00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:38.910
a car auction, But he didn't actually know where Bristol
317
00:20:38.930 --> 00:20:41.650
Car Auction was. He had to actually ask one of
318
00:20:41.670 --> 00:20:45.210
the police officers this. So it's starting to fall apart
319
00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:48.319
at this point in time. His level of arrogance is
320
00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:50.279
still incredibly high and he thinks he's going to get
321
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.339
away with stuff. But the police are noticing all of
322
00:20:53.380 --> 00:20:55.000
these little holes in his story.
323
00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:59.579
John Canan's web of lies was unravelling at rapid speed.
324
00:21:00.170 --> 00:21:04.089
Detectives were certain he was responsible for the disappearance of
325
00:21:04.170 --> 00:21:08.430
Shirley Banks, but they were desperate for some concrete evidence.
326
00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:13.500
They had just 36 hours before they'd have to release him.
327
00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:15.599
The clock was ticking.
328
00:21:16.740 --> 00:21:21.220
As detectives continued to search Canaan's Bristol home, they discovered
329
00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:25.470
an eerie video for a dating agency, filmed just six
330
00:21:25.589 --> 00:21:26.390
weeks earlier.
331
00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:37.480
I think apart from the physical side, again, I think
332
00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:42.400
somebody who's pleasant, who's natural, who's relaxed.
333
00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:49.029
He presents as a very suave, a very charming, flashing
334
00:21:49.069 --> 00:21:53.619
his eyes at this woman who's interviewing him. You know,
335
00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:56.539
I'm looking for somebody as intelligent as me, and, well,
336
00:21:56.599 --> 00:21:59.579
you know, I've got a beautiful flat, and it's all dull,
337
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.349
and it's so oily and slimy, and you look at
338
00:22:04.410 --> 00:22:09.470
his facial expressions, and you can see, when you know
339
00:22:09.509 --> 00:22:11.910
what to look for, shallowness.
340
00:22:12.690 --> 00:22:15.329
Yes, I have a dislike of inflated egos.
341
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:18.970
People who are.
342
00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:22.980
They look at me, I'm a great type... I don't
343
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.039
like that. I just like normal, average people.
344
00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:29.220
When you look at that video, you look at his
345
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.609
eyes and you think, God, there's something strange about this man.
346
00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:37.470
And he is sort of riveting in an appalling way.
347
00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:42.369
And you could see that he could be charming to women,
348
00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:46.000
but at the same time, there's something really deadly about
349
00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:46.579
those eyes.
350
00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:52.599
It is genuinely terrifying. because you know that this man
351
00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:56.920
is capable and has already been capable of the most
352
00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:58.900
profound violence towards women.
353
00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:04.089
I'm in a sedimentary period where financially and career-wise I've
354
00:23:04.109 --> 00:23:06.569
achieved what I've wanted to achieve. I'm just now looking
355
00:23:06.650 --> 00:23:07.930
for the next thing to achieve.
356
00:23:09.509 --> 00:23:15.150
That is Walter Mitty. John Canaan, Walter Mitty. He purports
357
00:23:15.210 --> 00:23:19.819
to be what he's not. He calls himself a successful businessman...
358
00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.920
who's got businesses in Bristol. He's looking for a profile
359
00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:29.539
of a young lady, and he waxes lyrical, and the
360
00:23:29.619 --> 00:23:33.180
arrogance of the man is just unbelievable.
361
00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:40.440
Detectives needed more time to find evidence. They charged Canan
362
00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:44.880
with the assault and attempted robbery in Leamington Spa. This
363
00:23:44.940 --> 00:23:49.359
brought them another 72 hours to question him about Shirley Banks.
364
00:23:50.569 --> 00:23:55.329
Investigators had another avenue to explore, a nearby attack on
365
00:23:55.369 --> 00:24:02.019
the 7th of October, 1987, just 24 hours before Shirley's disappearance.
366
00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:05.700
A woman called Julia Holman was having a drink with
367
00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:08.700
friends and then went off to her car. It was
368
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:11.859
about half past six and in October it was dark,
369
00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:14.720
but this was towards the center of Bristol.
370
00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:20.099
As she got into the car, Canaan approached her with
371
00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:22.240
a gun and threatened her.
372
00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:30.529
Now, Julia Holman reacted spectacularly swiftly that her reactions almost
373
00:24:30.549 --> 00:24:34.029
certainly saved her life. Instead of being paralyzed with fear,
374
00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:37.990
her reaction was to strike out with her arm and
375
00:24:38.009 --> 00:24:41.769
with her leg, slam the car door, screaming as she did,
376
00:24:42.230 --> 00:24:43.890
and then speed off as fast as she could.
377
00:24:45.250 --> 00:24:50.009
Canaan was an immediate suspect. On the 5th of November,
378
00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:55.039
an ID parade was arranged. Julia Holman would once again
379
00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.640
come face-to-face with her attacker.
380
00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:02.940
Canan is put in a row. He's number three in
381
00:25:02.980 --> 00:25:09.289
the identity parade. Julia Holman identifies him instantly. It's number three.
382
00:25:11.589 --> 00:25:11.950
That is.
383
00:25:12.349 --> 00:25:16.690
immediately really helped to nail that he was the man
384
00:25:16.730 --> 00:25:19.410
responsible for the attack on Julia Holman the day before.
385
00:25:19.869 --> 00:25:21.400
So the evidence was building up.
386
00:25:22.450 --> 00:25:26.869
Charging Canan with the attempted abduction of Julia bought detectives
387
00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:30.470
more time. But by the 10th of November, they were
388
00:25:30.619 --> 00:25:34.500
out of options. They decided they had enough evidence to
389
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.640
charge John Canan with the kidnap of Shirley Banks, but
390
00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:43.779
not her murder. However, their luck was about to change.
391
00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.269
He had this sort of monk's chest with all sorts
392
00:25:47.309 --> 00:25:51.670
of papers in his flat, and forensics, obviously, back in
393
00:25:51.730 --> 00:25:56.509
those days, were quite slow. But finally, they discovered a fingerprint.
394
00:25:57.890 --> 00:26:01.910
It was possible that this unknown fingerprint could belong to
395
00:26:01.990 --> 00:26:05.630
Shirley Banks, but they didn't have her prints on record
396
00:26:05.890 --> 00:26:10.710
to cross-check it. Fortunately, the forensic team had an ace
397
00:26:11.150 --> 00:26:11.950
up their sleeve.
398
00:26:13.430 --> 00:26:16.710
The fingerprint officers were able to examine Shirley Banks' house
399
00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:22.009
and produce a composite set of finger marks from items
400
00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:25.829
that she would touch in the normal course of her life.
401
00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:30.549
So common items, things like long playing record covers, cassettes,
402
00:26:31.049 --> 00:26:34.190
and actually build up a set of composites from those
403
00:26:34.509 --> 00:26:39.549
frequently handled items. which would then be compared against the mark,
404
00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:43.829
the image that was recovered from Canan's address. It proved
405
00:26:43.849 --> 00:26:46.410
that connection. It proved that she'd actually been in the
406
00:26:46.450 --> 00:26:47.710
house at the time.
407
00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:54.210
There was now no doubt that Shirley Banks had been
408
00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:59.440
inside John Canan's home. Worried that the wily 33-year-old would
409
00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:03.200
try and wriggle his way out of the accusation, detectives
410
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:05.519
knew they had to be one step ahead.
411
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:11.079
So, cleverly, they take John Canan to the scene and
412
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.160
say to him, you know, has Shirley Banks ever been
413
00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:14.900
in your flat?
414
00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:15.839
Answer, no.
415
00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:18.640
Well, here, this is some of the things we found
416
00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:19.559
in your flat.
417
00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:21.519
Are they yours? Yes.
418
00:27:22.099 --> 00:27:23.140
Showed him the document.
419
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:24.779
Is this yours?
420
00:27:25.059 --> 00:27:30.210
Yes. Did this document ever leave your flat? Answer, no.
421
00:27:31.170 --> 00:27:34.079
How do you explain Shirley Banks' thumbprint is on it?
422
00:27:35.769 --> 00:27:38.130
It was a clever series of events to make him
423
00:27:38.190 --> 00:27:40.549
admit everything before they played the trump card.
424
00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:47.819
On the 23rd of December, 1987, John Canan was charged
425
00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:52.160
with the murder of Shirley Banks, but investigators hadn't found
426
00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:55.759
her body, and Canan was still denying everything.
427
00:27:56.819 --> 00:28:00.829
There are cases where somebody's been convicted of a murder
428
00:28:00.990 --> 00:28:05.779
with no body, and there are some very good instances
429
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:09.220
of that over the years, but it makes it difficult
430
00:28:09.289 --> 00:28:13.569
for the investigators. You know, you can have all the
431
00:28:13.630 --> 00:28:15.029
evidence in the world, but if you haven't got a
432
00:28:15.049 --> 00:28:17.869
cause of death, you can't say it's murder with any certainty.
433
00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:25.289
On the 3rd of April 1988, a woman foraging in
434
00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:29.670
the eerily and aptly named Dead Woman's Ditch in Somerset
435
00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:36.089
made a grisly discovery. Six months after she disappeared, the
436
00:28:36.150 --> 00:28:39.849
body of Shirley Banks had finally been found.
437
00:28:40.829 --> 00:28:44.519
The body was naked, decomposed as you'd imagine, and alongside it,
438
00:28:44.569 --> 00:28:49.599
they found elements of her jewelry and also fibers and
439
00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:52.200
parts of the blue and white dress that she had
440
00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:53.279
bought from Topshop.
441
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:02.660
In Shirley's case, she was battered about the head could
442
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:06.490
have been something like a baseball bat or a heavy
443
00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:09.509
boulder or rock or something like that, you know, trauma
444
00:29:09.549 --> 00:29:13.690
to the head, which causes severe bleeding, and that would
445
00:29:13.710 --> 00:29:14.529
have been the cause of death.
446
00:29:16.329 --> 00:29:21.670
With confirmation that Shirley had indeed been murdered, investigators continued
447
00:29:21.710 --> 00:29:24.410
to build their case against John Canan.
448
00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:30.940
So the forensic evidence is mounting up. All the bits
449
00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:36.960
are falling into place. all the other police forces where
450
00:29:37.130 --> 00:29:41.960
the other serial sex offences have taken place. place, notify
451
00:29:42.019 --> 00:29:45.640
Avon and Somerset and they follow it up.
452
00:29:46.829 --> 00:29:51.890
Further investigations led to charges being filed against Canan, ranging
453
00:29:51.930 --> 00:29:56.589
from assault and GBH to theft and murder. Detectives in
454
00:29:56.700 --> 00:30:03.750
Reading also reopened an unsolved rape case from 1986. DNA
455
00:30:03.789 --> 00:30:06.769
had come on in leaps and bounds in just a
456
00:30:06.849 --> 00:30:07.650
couple of years.
457
00:30:09.410 --> 00:30:13.450
We'd had advances in procedures to extract and recover DNA,
458
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:15.619
so it was far more discriminating.
459
00:30:17.339 --> 00:30:20.400
And so they went back and they got forensics to
460
00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:25.119
reanalyse the semen stains they'd picked up from the ladies' clothing.
461
00:30:25.890 --> 00:30:28.730
When they'd done the original match two years before, they
462
00:30:28.769 --> 00:30:31.079
said there was a one in 2,000 chance of it
463
00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:37.799
being Canaan's semen. Now it was one in 260 million chance.
464
00:30:39.609 --> 00:30:42.390
So with great pleasure, police were now able to charge
465
00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:45.569
John Canaan for the first time with the Reading rape.
466
00:30:51.769 --> 00:30:56.269
At his trial at Exeter Crown Court in April 1989,
467
00:30:56.269 --> 00:31:00.769
John Canan was charged with 16 different offences, including the
468
00:31:00.769 --> 00:31:06.579
1987 murder of Shirley Banks, the Reading rape in 1986,
469
00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:10.279
and even the assault on his ex-partner in 1980, who
470
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:14.240
felt brave enough to come forward almost a decade later.
471
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:19.230
It was very unusual for a judge to accept more
472
00:31:19.269 --> 00:31:24.480
than one previous offence. allegation charge, and a number of
473
00:31:24.579 --> 00:31:28.529
charges were tried at the same time by the same
474
00:31:28.589 --> 00:31:31.200
jury in this particular case, and the judge allowed it.
475
00:31:33.210 --> 00:31:37.690
On the 28th of April, 1989, John Canan faced the
476
00:31:37.769 --> 00:31:38.819
jury's verdict.
477
00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:42.779
I have to say, having sat there in court that day,
478
00:31:43.339 --> 00:31:45.190
I believe he thought he would get away with it,
479
00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.240
even though the weight of the evidence in that trial
480
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:52.450
was clearly going in one direction. but he thought he
481
00:31:52.490 --> 00:31:57.390
would still get away with it. John Canan looked stunned
482
00:31:57.509 --> 00:32:01.410
by the first verdict. Once the first verdict of guilty,
483
00:32:01.450 --> 00:32:05.359
which was the sex attack on his ex-girlfriend, he knew
484
00:32:05.410 --> 00:32:08.400
that the rest, like dominoes, would just fall in the
485
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:09.119
same direction.
486
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.160
John Canan was found guilty and told he would spend
487
00:32:14.299 --> 00:32:16.000
life behind bars.
488
00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:25.750
The judge, Mr Justice Drake, described him as vile and evil, violent, horrible,
489
00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:30.789
beneath his veneer of charm in a very telling statement.
490
00:32:31.089 --> 00:32:34.869
He also said this man should never be put at liberty.
491
00:32:35.529 --> 00:32:38.150
He made it quite clear that he intended that this
492
00:32:38.210 --> 00:32:40.529
man should have a life means life tariff.
493
00:32:41.819 --> 00:32:45.720
Safely locked away in prison, John Canaan was no longer
494
00:32:45.779 --> 00:32:49.299
a threat to women, but his story was far from over.
495
00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:55.950
Since his incarceration, he's been linked to a number of
496
00:32:56.130 --> 00:33:01.289
unsolved cases. But his unwillingness to cooperate with police inquiries
497
00:33:01.730 --> 00:33:05.160
has led to many investigations reaching a dead end.
498
00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:09.460
I have no doubt that there are other victims of Canaan,
499
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.849
whether those are women he's killed, whether they're women he's
500
00:33:12.930 --> 00:33:16.589
raped and sexually assaulted. I don't believe that he will
501
00:33:16.690 --> 00:33:20.450
ever reveal details of them that would lead to a conviction.
502
00:33:20.769 --> 00:33:23.450
I think he's going to sprinkle a few details here
503
00:33:23.490 --> 00:33:25.960
and there. He's going to drop a few hints because
504
00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:28.380
he quite enjoys toying with people.
505
00:33:28.180 --> 00:33:28.799
In that way.
506
00:33:30.359 --> 00:33:34.460
Possible links have been explored between Canan and the unsolved
507
00:33:34.529 --> 00:33:40.710
murder of 27-year-old Sandra Court in Bournemouth in May 1986.
508
00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:44.009
And he remains the prime suspect for one of Britain's
509
00:33:44.049 --> 00:33:49.089
most infamous cold cases, the disappearance of Susie Lamplew.
510
00:33:50.009 --> 00:33:55.150
Susie was last seen on the morning of 28th of July, 1986.
511
00:33:55.150 --> 00:33:58.980
She turned up for work. It was a Monday morning
512
00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:04.299
in Sturgis' estate agents in Fulham Road. And in her diary,
513
00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:07.420
she had an appointment with a Mr. Kipper for later
514
00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:08.019
that morning.
515
00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:09.920
She subsequently.
516
00:34:10.510 --> 00:34:15.179
left the estate agents, got into the company car and
517
00:34:15.260 --> 00:34:19.619
drove to view a house in Cheryl's Road and another
518
00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.500
one near Bishop's Park in Fulham.
519
00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:26.719
And she never returned. And she's never been seen or
520
00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:27.380
heard of since.
521
00:34:29.260 --> 00:34:33.500
From the day that 25-year-old Susie went missing, her brother
522
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.150
Richard has experienced a whole range of emotions.
523
00:34:38.110 --> 00:34:42.309
As a someone who's missing, you don't want to look
524
00:34:42.369 --> 00:34:46.030
at it and sort of think, oh, she's dead. Or, oh, she's,
525
00:34:46.610 --> 00:34:50.269
you know, you always want to think positively and feel positive.
526
00:34:50.769 --> 00:34:55.050
And so you want to always keep your hopes up
527
00:34:55.829 --> 00:34:58.570
that she might just walk through the door. And that's
528
00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:01.489
what I felt. I didn't feel like it was time
529
00:35:01.530 --> 00:35:04.030
to grieve or anything. It wasn't time to miss her.
530
00:35:04.610 --> 00:35:08.409
I just wanted a happy outcome. You get to the
531
00:35:08.469 --> 00:35:12.030
stage where You know, after maybe two months, you sort
532
00:35:12.070 --> 00:35:15.170
of think, oh, maybe she's not coming, you know, maybe
533
00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:20.730
that is it. So I felt myself, I was trying
534
00:35:20.769 --> 00:35:23.329
to keep my hopes up all the time, which is
535
00:35:23.389 --> 00:35:25.829
quite exhausting in a way, but I think it's a
536
00:35:26.110 --> 00:35:31.820
way of sort of coping with it.
537
00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:35.820
By 1999, when Jim Dickey took over the investigation, the
538
00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:40.539
Susie Lamplugh case had gone unsolved. for 13 years.
539
00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:45.849
The original investigation petered out after a number of years.
540
00:35:47.090 --> 00:35:50.409
Everything that could be followed up, that was obvious, had
541
00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:53.769
been followed up. It wasn't put away, as we say
542
00:35:53.809 --> 00:35:58.130
in police parlance, i.e. it's filed away and, you know,
543
00:35:58.630 --> 00:36:00.829
is left to gather dust. That wasn't done. It was
544
00:36:00.889 --> 00:36:04.739
still an open inquiry, but just no one was actually
545
00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:05.400
working on it.
546
00:36:06.610 --> 00:36:10.269
Jim believes that John Canan attacked Susie just after he'd
547
00:36:10.309 --> 00:36:13.769
been freed from serving five years in prison for the
548
00:36:13.809 --> 00:36:16.610
rape of the pregnant mother in her knitwear shop.
549
00:36:17.590 --> 00:36:21.010
He was released from prison on the 26th of July.
550
00:36:21.489 --> 00:36:24.860
Susie went missing on the 28th of July. And we
551
00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:30.280
have witnesses that put Canan staring into the estate agent's
552
00:36:30.340 --> 00:36:34.260
window on the Sunday, the 27th. We have a cab
553
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:39.780
driver witness who dropped John Canaan in Fulham Broadway on
554
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:46.469
the 28th. Two witnesses compiled an e-fit with a police officer,
555
00:36:46.829 --> 00:36:47.590
and that.
556
00:36:47.469 --> 00:36:49.190
Picture, if you looked at it today.
557
00:36:49.210 --> 00:36:52.449
And it was published in all the media, you would say,
558
00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:56.079
looking at a photograph of John Canaan, that was John Canaan.
559
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:02.570
During the investigation into the disappearance of Shirley Banks, who
560
00:37:02.590 --> 00:37:07.449
Canan murdered in 1987, her mini was discovered at his home.
561
00:37:08.150 --> 00:37:12.090
It had been repainted, and the registration number had been changed.
562
00:37:12.789 --> 00:37:16.429
It was this alteration that piqued many people's interests.
563
00:37:18.269 --> 00:37:21.739
SLP 386S. There is a theory.
564
00:37:22.739 --> 00:37:28.610
Susie Lamplew, third victim of 86... That's one school of thought.
565
00:37:28.670 --> 00:37:31.389
Another school of thought, it could be a map reference
566
00:37:32.190 --> 00:37:36.050
for the deposition of a body on an ordnance survey map. Now,
567
00:37:36.409 --> 00:37:39.460
whether that is right or not, I don't know, but
568
00:37:39.500 --> 00:37:43.619
it's pretty close to where Shirley Banks' body was recovered,
569
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:47.099
which is near Dead Woman's Ditch in the Quantocks in Somerset.
570
00:37:48.860 --> 00:37:53.429
In December 2000, officers from Jim Dickey's team had the
571
00:37:53.489 --> 00:37:58.619
opportunity to interview John Canan in prisons. Throughout the interrogation,
572
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:02.539
the 46-year-old killer maintained his composure.
573
00:38:03.909 --> 00:38:07.190
He was quite quick-witted, I'll give him that, because when
574
00:38:07.230 --> 00:38:11.230
we interviewed him, what he does, and we knew this
575
00:38:11.250 --> 00:38:14.909
because we researched it, that he would try and turn
576
00:38:14.929 --> 00:38:17.309
the interview in its head so that he's asking you
577
00:38:17.369 --> 00:38:19.789
questions as opposed to us asking him.
578
00:38:20.170 --> 00:38:22.969
And we were prepared for that. We knew that. We
579
00:38:23.010 --> 00:38:24.510
knew he was going to do that. And what did
580
00:38:24.530 --> 00:38:24.809
he do?
581
00:38:24.989 --> 00:38:27.389
He did exactly that. But if you look at his
582
00:38:27.409 --> 00:38:30.690
body language on the video, it says it all. Some
583
00:38:30.789 --> 00:38:33.150
questions he did not have an answer for, and he
584
00:38:33.210 --> 00:38:35.010
was very, very uncomfortable.
585
00:38:35.969 --> 00:38:38.250
And as far as I'm concerned, Sam, it's very simple.
586
00:38:39.130 --> 00:38:42.159
If something looks like a duck, wobbles like a duck,
587
00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:44.719
and cracks like a duck, I think we can say,
588
00:38:45.659 --> 00:38:46.340
what can a duck do?
589
00:38:49.030 --> 00:38:52.389
You often find him saying these cryptic things to people
590
00:38:52.570 --> 00:38:56.210
and these things that are supposed to get people going, what?
591
00:38:56.989 --> 00:38:59.849
And that is because he enjoys being in control. He
592
00:39:00.030 --> 00:39:02.070
likes to be the one who's pulling the strings.
593
00:39:02.869 --> 00:39:04.630
It's a crime. I've done many things wrong in my life.
594
00:39:05.929 --> 00:39:09.170
Things that, believe me, I am genuinely sorry for. One
595
00:39:09.250 --> 00:39:10.469
or two things I haven't been caught for.
596
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:20.690
John Canan has always denied any involvement in the disappearance
597
00:39:20.769 --> 00:39:25.469
of Susie Lamplew. Without a body and with no forensic evidence,
598
00:39:25.869 --> 00:39:29.889
the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence
599
00:39:29.969 --> 00:39:36.159
to prosecute. But in November 2002, the Metropolitan Police announced
600
00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:39.679
they weren't looking for anyone else in connection with the case.
601
00:39:40.739 --> 00:39:42.880
There are people who know things if they came forward.
602
00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:45.739
We would only need a small amount of fresh evidence
603
00:39:45.780 --> 00:39:47.239
now to.
604
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:50.000
Bring what we believe would be a credible prosecution.
605
00:39:51.349 --> 00:39:55.650
I was there at the press conference, and yes, it
606
00:39:55.730 --> 00:40:01.369
was unprecedented for them to do this, but there was
607
00:40:01.429 --> 00:40:04.730
the only course of action that they could take. It
608
00:40:04.789 --> 00:40:07.710
does seem like he's got away with it. He obviously
609
00:40:07.730 --> 00:40:12.510
hasn't been prosecuted for my sister's murder, but it all
610
00:40:12.570 --> 00:40:15.860
seems the roads, as they say, all seem to.
611
00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:16.519
Lead to him.
612
00:40:18.760 --> 00:40:24.500
In 2018, police excavated the garden at Canan's mother's former home.
613
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.719
They'd received information that Canan laid a new patio in
614
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:32.800
the months following Susie's disappearance and hoped to have finally
615
00:40:32.900 --> 00:40:36.360
found her. Nothing was uncovered.
616
00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:40.380
In my view, John Canan will take the secrets of
617
00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:44.570
Susie Lamplugh's death to his grave. I cannot see him.
618
00:40:46.090 --> 00:40:49.260
opening up and admitting that he had anything to do
619
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.219
with it or showing any remorse about what happened at all.
620
00:40:52.820 --> 00:40:55.300
I have nothing but contempt for this man.
621
00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:01.780
I would love to bury Suze where we want as
622
00:41:01.860 --> 00:41:06.139
a family to bury her rather than where he has
623
00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:06.739
buried her.
624
00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:12.860
Although Canan was sentenced to life in prison, he is
625
00:41:12.949 --> 00:41:17.119
due for parole in the near future. after serving 35
626
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.119
years behind bars.
627
00:41:22.300 --> 00:41:24.610
You just hope and pray that they don't let this
628
00:41:24.670 --> 00:41:28.269
man out, because I think it would be a horrific
629
00:41:28.610 --> 00:41:32.630
situation if they were to let him out. Because really,
630
00:41:32.989 --> 00:41:35.289
you know, this is a man who should not be
631
00:41:35.349 --> 00:41:36.550
at large in society.
632
00:41:38.110 --> 00:41:43.289
He sees himself as of superior intelligence, intellect, and the
633
00:41:43.349 --> 00:41:46.329
rest of us are just plebs. We might be plebs
634
00:41:46.369 --> 00:41:49.929
in his eyes, but he's an arrogant serial sex offender,
635
00:41:50.289 --> 00:41:53.650
and if he's ever released from prison, God knows what
636
00:41:53.690 --> 00:41:54.230
he will do.
637
00:41:56.659 --> 00:42:01.639
For now, John Canan remains behind bars, a convicted rapist
638
00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:05.559
and murderer who ruined so many lives. The pain he
639
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:09.090
inflicted not just on Shirley Banks but on her family
640
00:42:09.570 --> 00:42:11.070
should never be forgotten.
641
00:42:12.630 --> 00:42:15.489
I have four kids of my own. I cannot think
642
00:42:15.530 --> 00:42:19.630
what it's like to have to bury your child and
643
00:42:19.690 --> 00:42:22.690
to do it under those circumstances and to have lived
644
00:42:22.710 --> 00:42:26.369
through a period when her body hadn't been found as
645
00:42:26.429 --> 00:42:30.639
well is just utterly, utterly appalling. I think in all
646
00:42:30.659 --> 00:42:35.300
of this we shouldn't forget the broad range of victims
647
00:42:35.460 --> 00:42:39.820
of Canaan. because it's not just those individuals who were victims.
648
00:42:40.489 --> 00:42:43.670
All sorts of members of their families were victims too.
649
00:42:44.230 --> 00:42:47.690
They were all victims of John Canaan.
650
00:42:50.550 --> 00:42:55.349
Canaan is a violent sexual predator. He's displayed no remorse
651
00:42:55.389 --> 00:42:58.690
for any of his crimes, from raping a pregnant woman
652
00:42:58.750 --> 00:43:01.940
in front of her own mother and child, to killing
653
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.880
a newlywed for nothing more than his own self-gratification. Hiding
654
00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:11.500
behind the veneer of a suave businessman, John Canaan thought
655
00:43:11.539 --> 00:43:14.780
he was God's gift to women. But in fact, he
656
00:43:14.820 --> 00:43:19.250
was the devil in disguise and undoubtedly one of the
657
00:43:19.369 --> 00:43:21.570
world's most evil killers.
1
00:00:06.290 --> 00:00:11.330
On the 8th of October, 1987, 29-year-old Shirley Banks went
2
00:00:11.349 --> 00:00:14.710
to a shopping center in Bristol, England, to buy a
3
00:00:14.789 --> 00:00:18.350
new dress. She would never be seen alive again.
4
00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.149
For weeks on end, it seemed that Shirley Banks had
5
00:00:23.210 --> 00:00:24.589
disappeared off the face of the earth.
6
00:00:25.890 --> 00:00:30.600
But Shirley hadn't vanished. She'd been abducted and murdered by
7
00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.299
a 33-year-old convicted rapist named John Canan.
8
00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:38.880
He had his mind set on abducting a woman and
9
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.719
assaulting her and getting what he wanted from her, and
10
00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:43.899
nothing was going to stand in his way.
11
00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:50.280
Detectives investigating Shirley's disappearance were merely scratching the surface of
12
00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:55.740
Canaan's twisted past, a sexual predator hidden beneath a veneer
13
00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.270
of respectability.
14
00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.569
Well, I think apart from the physical side, I think
15
00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:09.390
somebody who's pleasant, who's natural, who's relaxed.
16
00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:14.780
Of all the murderers I've investigated, Canaan sticks out. He's
17
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.459
a psychopath.
18
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.200
Simple. Psychopath.
19
00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:22.079
John Canaan was about to be unmasked as one of
20
00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:49.340
the world's most evil killers. John Canan is something of
21
00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.060
an enigma. After being arrested for the murder of Shirley
22
00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:57.140
Banks in December 1987, he was charged with a number
23
00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:02.549
of offenses ranging from rape to GBH. He's never spoken
24
00:02:02.709 --> 00:02:06.250
of his crimes, but Canan is suspected of killing others.
25
00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:11.250
In 2002, he was named as the prime suspect in
26
00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:15.990
one of the most infamous unexplained disappearances in British history.
27
00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:21.770
Susie Lamplugh disappeared in July 1986 and was never heard
28
00:02:21.830 --> 00:02:25.849
of again, and her body has never been found, so
29
00:02:25.889 --> 00:02:27.689
the family have had no real closure.
30
00:02:29.830 --> 00:02:32.830
I read all the material that the review team.
31
00:02:32.949 --> 00:02:38.229
Had regarding John Canan's offending profile, And the more I
32
00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.590
read into it and the more I learned about the
33
00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:44.379
Lamplugh case, it became clearer and clearer to me that
34
00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.300
the one and only suspect was John Canan.
35
00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:54.139
Many of Canan's crimes were only discovered after his arrest
36
00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:59.659
for an attempted robbery in October 1987. TV producer Nick
37
00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:03.300
Shearman was working on the BBC Crimewatch programme at the
38
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.590
time and forensically followed Canan's demise.
39
00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:10.430
There's no doubt that this case had a particularly strong
40
00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:12.949
effect on me. This was something that has happened in
41
00:03:13.050 --> 00:03:16.550
my area. I've lived in Bristol for years and years
42
00:03:16.610 --> 00:03:19.710
and years. I passed that house where he lived on
43
00:03:19.750 --> 00:03:23.479
a regular basis and it's very difficult to forget those
44
00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:28.860
things because the crimes were so appalling, really. If you
45
00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.719
rape someone, it's never going to go away for that
46
00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:34.939
person and it's not going to go away for those
47
00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.280
nearest and dearest to them. So Canaan has effectively put
48
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.500
life sentences on a whole number of individuals, not just
49
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:45.580
his immediate victims.
50
00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:51.319
Although convicted of offences against six women, including the murder
51
00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.969
of Shirley Banks, experts feel John Canaan still has a
52
00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:57.229
lot to answer for.
53
00:03:58.090 --> 00:04:01.870
I believe Canaan's committed many, many more sexual offences than
54
00:04:01.889 --> 00:04:05.610
he's ever been convicted of or that he's even suspected of.
55
00:04:08.009 --> 00:04:14.199
The killer's story begins in Sutton Coalfield, Warwickshire. John David
56
00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:19.699
Guise Canan was born on the 20th of February, 1954.
57
00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:22.560
The middle of three children, he was raised by a
58
00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.300
strict disciplinarian.
59
00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:27.220
He didn't get on with his father.
60
00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:32.269
There'd been lots of arguments and so on, and he
61
00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:35.230
very much orientated himself towards his mother. He had a
62
00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:37.129
very close relationship with his mother.
63
00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:43.019
Coming from an affluent background, Kanaan attended a private school
64
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.300
where he claimed he was sexually assaulted by a teacher.
65
00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.069
And by the time he was a teenager, Kanaan himself
66
00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:52.529
was about to commit a similar offence.
67
00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:58.930
He commits his first sex crime at the age of 14.
68
00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:02.339
He assaults a woman in a phone box and he
69
00:05:02.379 --> 00:05:03.480
gets a year's probation.
70
00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:08.610
This is a very young age to be offending. And
71
00:05:08.649 --> 00:05:12.529
very often, people who engage in sexual assault-type behaviors, the
72
00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:14.709
first time that they're caught by the police is not
73
00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:17.209
the first time that they've engaged in this kind of behavior.
74
00:05:17.649 --> 00:05:19.990
So it would suggest that he'd been doing this kind
75
00:05:20.029 --> 00:05:21.769
of thing before then as well.
76
00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:27.120
After a short stint in the Merchant Navy, he went
77
00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:28.939
to work with his father in a car showroom.
78
00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:29.800
By 1980, 26-year-old Canan.
79
00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:38.310
Was married with a daughter, but that didn't stop him
80
00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:40.980
from becoming a self-proclaimed Lothario.
81
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.779
Canaan really does like to make out that he's some
82
00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:48.279
kind of Romeo figure, that he's somebody who women fall
83
00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:51.939
over themselves for. So he will quote figures of having
84
00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:57.000
had over 101 nightstands. He likes to be this kind
85
00:05:57.050 --> 00:06:01.730
of character. Fundamentally, he's got a very strong narcissistic streak
86
00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:02.170
to him.
87
00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:04.069
He was a flirt.
88
00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.600
On one particular occasion, he was walking past an off-licence
89
00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.439
and he saw a beautiful girl in there and he
90
00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:14.079
went and bought some flowers and then went in and said,
91
00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:16.220
I'm having a rather nice party tonight. I'd like to
92
00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.720
buy a couple of bottles of wine. And he gave
93
00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:21.959
her these flowers and she was swept off her feet.
94
00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:27.089
There could be no denying he is extremely attractive to
95
00:06:27.149 --> 00:06:32.050
many women. But he is also absolutely dangerous to them.
96
00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:38.930
By December 1980, Kinnan had separated from his wife and
97
00:06:38.949 --> 00:06:42.810
was living with a new girlfriend. But after growing jealous
98
00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:47.100
of her relationship with her ex-husband, he flew into a rage.
99
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:53.959
He launched an astonishingly vicious attack, strangling her, raping her,
100
00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.750
and subjecting her to a series of disgracefully humiliating sexual attacks.
101
00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:07.170
It's too painful almost to talk about. He sodomises her.
102
00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:11.589
It's a disgraceful, disgraceful attack. And she has to go
103
00:07:11.629 --> 00:07:16.439
to hospital. She's got internal injuries. I mean, she's suffered
104
00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:19.019
at the hands of a man whom she's invited into
105
00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:19.439
her house.
106
00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:23.709
She didn't make a complaint at that time because she
107
00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:26.110
was too terrified that he'd come back.
108
00:07:27.889 --> 00:07:31.949
Just three months after attacking his partner, John Canan was
109
00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:35.310
ready to take his sexual crimes to a new level.
110
00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.980
In March 1981, he had his sights set on the
111
00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:43.639
owner of a ladies' clothing shop in his hometown of
112
00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:44.680
Sutton Coalfield.
113
00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:48.639
He walked into the knitwear shop with a knife and
114
00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:53.750
held up the woman who was then behind the counter.
115
00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:56.069
And.
116
00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.660
The lady has got a 17-month-old child with her, and
117
00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:01.800
she happens to be pregnant.
118
00:08:03.750 --> 00:08:05.949
Before he could lock the door of the shop, in
119
00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:07.670
walks the woman's mother.
120
00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:12.050
So there are three generations of a family all within
121
00:08:12.230 --> 00:08:16.810
this same shop, and Kenan is threatening. He has a knife.
122
00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:21.129
He's a scary-looking individual. He can be incredibly overpowering and
123
00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:24.360
incredibly domineering, and he makes it very clear what he
124
00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:28.500
wants from this woman. And the grandmother pleads with him
125
00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:30.959
not to do this, don't do this in front of
126
00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.659
my grandchild. And she says, my daughter's pregnant, please don't
127
00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:35.100
do this.
128
00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:41.570
He subjects the woman to hideous sexual attacks, even though
129
00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:45.830
the baby is still there and is bawling his head off.
130
00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.129
In the midst of this, the husband phones the shop
131
00:08:51.210 --> 00:08:54.230
and John Conan panics and cuts the telephone line.
132
00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:00.059
Worried for his wife's safety, the pregnant woman's husband arrived
133
00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:02.919
at the shop and tried to force his way through
134
00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:07.210
the locked door. But Canan escaped out the back.
135
00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:12.570
Heavily traumatized, the victim is still able to give police
136
00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:17.129
a clear picture of the man who attacked her.
137
00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:20.909
And it doesn't take very long for there to be
138
00:09:20.950 --> 00:09:26.399
a perfectly good photo fit. constructed by the police, of Kanan,
139
00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:30.679
who's described as between 25 and 30, having dark eyes
140
00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:33.179
and eyebrows that meet above his nose.
141
00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:39.090
Within a week, police had found Kanan, despite an attempt
142
00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:43.590
to disguise himself by shaving between his distinctive eyebrows.
143
00:09:44.830 --> 00:09:48.039
After lengthy interviews about the case, denying it and denying it,
144
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:53.580
he did eventually admit his guilt about that incident. And
145
00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:58.269
equally bizarrely, if not typically, he told the officers what
146
00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:01.149
a good job they'd done. I mean, he really was
147
00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:05.669
both pompous and patronising and had this veneer of arrogance
148
00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:06.230
about him.
149
00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:11.549
After serving five years of an eight-year sentence for his crimes,
150
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.220
John Canan was released, but he was far from rehabilitated.
151
00:10:17.029 --> 00:10:21.549
In October 1986, he was in Reading with another victim
152
00:10:22.190 --> 00:10:22.909
in his sights.
153
00:10:23.830 --> 00:10:25.970
He attacks a woman who is sitting in a car
154
00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:27.909
reading a book quite late at night.
155
00:10:29.590 --> 00:10:32.409
And he came up to her, opened the window, asked
156
00:10:32.429 --> 00:10:34.549
for directions to a particular street.
157
00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:39.289
Do you know the way to Balfour Drive? She was
158
00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:40.600
about to say no, but then he said, oh, have
159
00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:42.460
you got an A to Z? And as she turned
160
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:44.879
to look in the car for an A to Z,
161
00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:45.779
suddenly he was in there.
162
00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:50.940
Armed with a knife, Canaan put on a balaclava, drove
163
00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.440
the woman to a remote spot and raped her. He
164
00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:58.620
then wiped down the surfaces inside the car before calmly
165
00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:01.600
driving her back to where he had abducted her.
166
00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:07.799
Even more chillingly, as he abandons her, he says to her,
167
00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:13.190
with a slight smirk, take care and be good, but
168
00:11:13.230 --> 00:11:14.629
if you can't be good, be careful.
169
00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:23.440
But Canand hadn't been as thorough as he'd hoped. Forensic
170
00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:28.309
tests gave investigators a glimmer of hope in finding the rapist.
171
00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:32.769
The semen stains on the victim's clothing could only match
172
00:11:32.990 --> 00:11:37.149
Canand to a one in 2,000 chance, which is clearly
173
00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:38.889
insufficient to bring before a jury.
174
00:11:40.370 --> 00:11:43.559
So, unfortunately, they didn't have the forensics, they didn't have
175
00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.240
the ID.
176
00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:45.700
They had to.
177
00:11:49.009 --> 00:11:53.889
That rape, to some extent, gave Cannon the feeling that
178
00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:58.309
he was impregnable, that he was always capable of getting
179
00:11:58.370 --> 00:11:58.850
away with it.
180
00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:02.379
Every time they do it, it escalates.
181
00:12:02.700 --> 00:12:04.169
And in the end, they don't want to get caught
182
00:12:04.629 --> 00:12:07.960
because if they let the victims go, the victims become
183
00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:12.700
witnesses and they give evidence and then, of course, they
184
00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.720
get convicted and they get sent to prison. If you
185
00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:18.899
murder them, and you get away with it, you're scot-free.
186
00:12:20.179 --> 00:12:26.610
Feeling untouchable, John Canan was ready to strike again. On
187
00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.830
the 8th of October, 29-year-old newlywed Shirley Banks drove her
188
00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:36.070
orange Mini into Bristol town centre and headed to a
189
00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:37.090
department store.
190
00:12:37.649 --> 00:12:40.610
On that evening, she had plans to go shopping and
191
00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:44.870
possibly some drinks with her friends. In particular, she wanted
192
00:12:44.909 --> 00:12:48.200
to go to the Broadway... in the centre of Bristol,
193
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:50.919
and she had an eye on a particular blue and
194
00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:54.620
white dress, which, when she bought it, was placed in
195
00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:58.019
a large Topshop bag, larger than normal for a dress
196
00:12:58.070 --> 00:12:58.620
of that size.
197
00:12:59.929 --> 00:13:04.450
Shirley left the shop at around 7.30pm, but she never
198
00:13:04.529 --> 00:13:07.830
arrived to meet her friends for a drink, nor did
199
00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:08.929
she return home.
200
00:13:10.490 --> 00:13:13.269
Her husband came home that night, knew she was going
201
00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:16.830
to be late, so didn't think anything of it. then
202
00:13:16.870 --> 00:13:19.179
went to the local pub, asked if they'd seen her,
203
00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:22.149
and they hadn't. I think he eventually fell asleep.
204
00:13:25.950 --> 00:13:29.850
The following morning, he phoned her work and was astonished
205
00:13:29.909 --> 00:13:35.100
to hear that she had phoned in that morning sick. Well,
206
00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.909
he knew that was wrong, that something was up.
207
00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:44.960
Unfortunately, Richard's instincts were correct. Shirley Banks had been abducted
208
00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:46.279
by John Canan.
209
00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:49.970
Shirley, I think, was forced into making that phone call.
210
00:13:50.289 --> 00:13:53.629
And this is pure supposition. And I think probably Shirley
211
00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:58.000
was fear of her life, probably went along with what
212
00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:02.240
he wanted initially, but obviously came to a point where
213
00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:04.879
she knew this was going to end badly.
214
00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:09.830
This would have been absolutely terrifying for Shirley because on
215
00:14:09.870 --> 00:14:13.590
a minute to minute basis, she's assessing the situation. She's
216
00:14:13.629 --> 00:14:15.889
figuring out what it is that she needs to do
217
00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:19.450
to keep herself safe, to keep herself alive. So absolutely
218
00:14:19.590 --> 00:14:23.269
horrifying situation to be in. From Kenan's perspective, on the
219
00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:25.450
other hand, he is loving this because he is 100%
220
00:14:25.450 --> 00:14:29.580
in control of what is going on. He has got
221
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:33.399
a victim here who is perhaps pleading with him, perhaps
222
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.179
begging for her life, complying with all of his instructions.
223
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.139
So he's feeling quite good right now.
224
00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:47.669
On 9th October 1987, Richard Banks reported his wife as missing.
225
00:14:48.889 --> 00:14:51.169
The police were confronted with the fact that there was
226
00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:54.309
a missing woman, a woman who would almost certainly either
227
00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:58.340
be at home or at work, and is now clearly missing.
228
00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:02.120
She had an orange Mini Clubman, a very distinctive car,
229
00:15:02.529 --> 00:15:03.529
no sign of that either.
230
00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:05.389
Has she been abducted?
231
00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:13.259
Shirley had seemingly vanished into thin air. As the police
232
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.779
exhausted all avenues, four days after her disappearance, a nationwide
233
00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:22.980
appeal was put out. Where was Shirley Banks?
234
00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:27.980
The police, you know, were getting nowhere, quite frankly. And
235
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.070
so they came to Crime Watch. Initially, we did an
236
00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.710
incident desk on it, just really telling the basic story
237
00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:38.169
in a very short space of time. That didn't really
238
00:15:38.230 --> 00:15:42.649
produce very much either. As things gathered pace, they realised
239
00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:47.250
that they had a major investigation on their hands, and
240
00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:49.980
then they threw really everything into it. I mean, they
241
00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.779
even got the RAF to take infrared photographs of Lee
242
00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:56.740
Woods nearby, in case there was a body there. They
243
00:15:56.779 --> 00:16:00.289
did They did all sorts of things. But Shirley was
244
00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:04.269
nowhere to be found. One of the big issues for
245
00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:06.990
them as the case progressed was that they didn't have
246
00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:07.389
a body.
247
00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:12.720
As the hunt for Shirley continued, John Canan headed far
248
00:16:12.789 --> 00:16:17.299
away from the center of the investigation. 70 miles north
249
00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:20.799
of Bristol, he was hunting for another victim.
250
00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:25.340
Three weeks on from Shirley Banks going missing, no sign
251
00:16:25.379 --> 00:16:29.610
of her at all. John Canaan moves his focus of
252
00:16:29.649 --> 00:16:35.299
attention away from Bristol to Leamington Spa, close to Sutton Caulfield,
253
00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:40.080
an area he knows particularly well. There's a shop called Ginger.
254
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:43.120
John Canaan enters the shop, and this is an eerie
255
00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:47.639
reflection of what happened in 1981. Six years later, John
256
00:16:47.659 --> 00:16:50.909
Canaan is similarly intent on rape.
257
00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:55.509
You can see certain patterns and certain things recurring, and
258
00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:58.470
at Leamington Spa, he once again went into a ladies'
259
00:16:58.529 --> 00:17:01.149
dress shop and held a woman at knife point.
260
00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.599
Wearing a motorcycle helmet to hide his identity, Canaan's actions
261
00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:10.880
seemed to echo the horrific attack of his past.
262
00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:15.240
I think Canaan was convinced that once he had made
263
00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:17.420
his way into that shop and he had threatened the
264
00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:19.720
women inside it, that he was going to be able
265
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.640
to rape and sexually assault one or both of them.
266
00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.220
But one of the women, when she went to lock
267
00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:28.359
the door, as Canan had instructed her to do, used
268
00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.059
that as an opportunity to actually flee the shop.
269
00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:36.450
Canan, unsuccessful in his attempts, dashes for the door to
270
00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:37.269
make good his escape.
271
00:17:38.970 --> 00:17:41.769
But John Canan should have run a lot faster than
272
00:17:41.809 --> 00:17:45.150
he did because two or three guys walking down the
273
00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:48.589
street heard these girls scream. They saw Canan running away,
274
00:17:48.670 --> 00:17:52.730
and they chased him. And after a cat-and-mouse chase around
275
00:17:52.750 --> 00:17:56.650
Leamington Spa, the police pounced, and they got him.
276
00:17:59.730 --> 00:18:04.319
John Canan was finally behind bars, but detectives had no
277
00:18:04.450 --> 00:18:07.640
idea they'd arrested the man who was responsible for the
278
00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:11.380
disappearance of Shirley Banks just three weeks earlier.
279
00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:16.680
Warwickshire Police thought they had in custody an armed robber.
280
00:18:18.170 --> 00:18:20.130
When they arrested him, they found the car keys, which
281
00:18:20.150 --> 00:18:23.680
was a BMW parked near the ginger shop. What they
282
00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:27.619
had no idea was what was inside that car. It
283
00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:32.059
was an absolute treasure trove of evidence involving handcuffs and
284
00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:36.539
rope and an imitation gun. But most importantly, it had
285
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.829
the tax disc from Shirley Banks' car.
286
00:18:42.309 --> 00:18:44.470
Now, why is he holding on to this? Because it's
287
00:18:44.549 --> 00:18:48.460
a piece of incredibly incriminating evidence. I don't think he
288
00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:50.799
ever thought he was going to get caught, so he
289
00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:54.700
wasn't really thinking about the implications of it. He'd kept
290
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:58.720
this tax disc as a memento, as something to remember
291
00:18:58.900 --> 00:18:59.740
this crime by.
292
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.759
Also in the car was a large Topshop bag, similar
293
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.480
to the one Shirley had been given when she bought
294
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.960
her new dress on that fateful night. Aware that Shirley
295
00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:19.250
Banks was currently missing, Wallachshire police contacted their colleagues in Bristol. Finally,
296
00:19:19.490 --> 00:19:22.049
investigators had a breakthrough in the case.
297
00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:25.730
Avon and Somerset police drove up to Leamington Spa the
298
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:29.660
evening of the next day, and they drove him back
299
00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:35.559
to Bristol that same night. Canan spent the whole time talking.
300
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.019
Most people now just say no comment, but he insisted
301
00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:42.880
on talking endlessly in the back seat of the car,
302
00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:47.430
kind of justifying himself and explaining what kind of a
303
00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:48.170
man he was.
304
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:49.950
Hello?
305
00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:53.720
Had also found another major piece of the puzzle at
306
00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:59.369
Canaan's Bristol home, Shirley Banks's distinctive car.
307
00:20:00.769 --> 00:20:05.349
The orange Mini Clubman is found in the lock-up garages
308
00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:11.569
beneath Foy House, where Canaan is living. It's been painted blue, hand-painted,
309
00:20:11.609 --> 00:20:14.650
it's not been sprayed, and he's changed the number plate.
310
00:20:16.609 --> 00:20:20.319
As soon as Jean Calan is questioned, he denies any
311
00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.279
connection with Shirley Banks whatsoever, claims he'd never met her
312
00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:27.259
at all. He came up with this wonderful creative account
313
00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:30.519
of how he had bought this car in good faith
314
00:20:30.769 --> 00:20:31.349
at an auction.
315
00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:35.369
So he makes up this narrative, I bought it at
316
00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:38.910
a car auction, But he didn't actually know where Bristol
317
00:20:38.930 --> 00:20:41.650
Car Auction was. He had to actually ask one of
318
00:20:41.670 --> 00:20:45.210
the police officers this. So it's starting to fall apart
319
00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:48.319
at this point in time. His level of arrogance is
320
00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:50.279
still incredibly high and he thinks he's going to get
321
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.339
away with stuff. But the police are noticing all of
322
00:20:53.380 --> 00:20:55.000
these little holes in his story.
323
00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:59.579
John Canan's web of lies was unravelling at rapid speed.
324
00:21:00.170 --> 00:21:04.089
Detectives were certain he was responsible for the disappearance of
325
00:21:04.170 --> 00:21:08.430
Shirley Banks, but they were desperate for some concrete evidence.
326
00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:13.500
They had just 36 hours before they'd have to release him.
327
00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:15.599
The clock was ticking.
328
00:21:16.740 --> 00:21:21.220
As detectives continued to search Canaan's Bristol home, they discovered
329
00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:25.470
an eerie video for a dating agency, filmed just six
330
00:21:25.589 --> 00:21:26.390
weeks earlier.
331
00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:37.480
I think apart from the physical side, again, I think
332
00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:42.400
somebody who's pleasant, who's natural, who's relaxed.
333
00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:49.029
He presents as a very suave, a very charming, flashing
334
00:21:49.069 --> 00:21:53.619
his eyes at this woman who's interviewing him. You know,
335
00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:56.539
I'm looking for somebody as intelligent as me, and, well,
336
00:21:56.599 --> 00:21:59.579
you know, I've got a beautiful flat, and it's all dull,
337
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.349
and it's so oily and slimy, and you look at
338
00:22:04.410 --> 00:22:09.470
his facial expressions, and you can see, when you know
339
00:22:09.509 --> 00:22:11.910
what to look for, shallowness.
340
00:22:12.690 --> 00:22:15.329
Yes, I have a dislike of inflated egos.
341
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:18.970
People who are.
342
00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:22.980
They look at me, I'm a great type... I don't
343
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.039
like that. I just like normal, average people.
344
00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:29.220
When you look at that video, you look at his
345
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.609
eyes and you think, God, there's something strange about this man.
346
00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:37.470
And he is sort of riveting in an appalling way.
347
00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:42.369
And you could see that he could be charming to women,
348
00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:46.000
but at the same time, there's something really deadly about
349
00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:46.579
those eyes.
350
00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:52.599
It is genuinely terrifying. because you know that this man
351
00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:56.920
is capable and has already been capable of the most
352
00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:58.900
profound violence towards women.
353
00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:04.089
I'm in a sedimentary period where financially and career-wise I've
354
00:23:04.109 --> 00:23:06.569
achieved what I've wanted to achieve. I'm just now looking
355
00:23:06.650 --> 00:23:07.930
for the next thing to achieve.
356
00:23:09.509 --> 00:23:15.150
That is Walter Mitty. John Canaan, Walter Mitty. He purports
357
00:23:15.210 --> 00:23:19.819
to be what he's not. He calls himself a successful businessman...
358
00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:24.920
who's got businesses in Bristol. He's looking for a profile
359
00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:29.539
of a young lady, and he waxes lyrical, and the
360
00:23:29.619 --> 00:23:33.180
arrogance of the man is just unbelievable.
361
00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:40.440
Detectives needed more time to find evidence. They charged Canan
362
00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:44.880
with the assault and attempted robbery in Leamington Spa. This
363
00:23:44.940 --> 00:23:49.359
brought them another 72 hours to question him about Shirley Banks.
364
00:23:50.569 --> 00:23:55.329
Investigators had another avenue to explore, a nearby attack on
365
00:23:55.369 --> 00:24:02.019
the 7th of October, 1987, just 24 hours before Shirley's disappearance.
366
00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:05.700
A woman called Julia Holman was having a drink with
367
00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:08.700
friends and then went off to her car. It was
368
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:11.859
about half past six and in October it was dark,
369
00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:14.720
but this was towards the center of Bristol.
370
00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:20.099
As she got into the car, Canaan approached her with
371
00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:22.240
a gun and threatened her.
372
00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:30.529
Now, Julia Holman reacted spectacularly swiftly that her reactions almost
373
00:24:30.549 --> 00:24:34.029
certainly saved her life. Instead of being paralyzed with fear,
374
00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:37.990
her reaction was to strike out with her arm and
375
00:24:38.009 --> 00:24:41.769
with her leg, slam the car door, screaming as she did,
376
00:24:42.230 --> 00:24:43.890
and then speed off as fast as she could.
377
00:24:45.250 --> 00:24:50.009
Canaan was an immediate suspect. On the 5th of November,
378
00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:55.039
an ID parade was arranged. Julia Holman would once again
379
00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.640
come face-to-face with her attacker.
380
00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:02.940
Canan is put in a row. He's number three in
381
00:25:02.980 --> 00:25:09.289
the identity parade. Julia Holman identifies him instantly. It's number three.
382
00:25:11.589 --> 00:25:11.950
That is.
383
00:25:12.349 --> 00:25:16.690
immediately really helped to nail that he was the man
384
00:25:16.730 --> 00:25:19.410
responsible for the attack on Julia Holman the day before.
385
00:25:19.869 --> 00:25:21.400
So the evidence was building up.
386
00:25:22.450 --> 00:25:26.869
Charging Canan with the attempted abduction of Julia bought detectives
387
00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:30.470
more time. But by the 10th of November, they were
388
00:25:30.619 --> 00:25:34.500
out of options. They decided they had enough evidence to
389
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:38.640
charge John Canan with the kidnap of Shirley Banks, but
390
00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:43.779
not her murder. However, their luck was about to change.
391
00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.269
He had this sort of monk's chest with all sorts
392
00:25:47.309 --> 00:25:51.670
of papers in his flat, and forensics, obviously, back in
393
00:25:51.730 --> 00:25:56.509
those days, were quite slow. But finally, they discovered a fingerprint.
394
00:25:57.890 --> 00:26:01.910
It was possible that this unknown fingerprint could belong to
395
00:26:01.990 --> 00:26:05.630
Shirley Banks, but they didn't have her prints on record
396
00:26:05.890 --> 00:26:10.710
to cross-check it. Fortunately, the forensic team had an ace
397
00:26:11.150 --> 00:26:11.950
up their sleeve.
398
00:26:13.430 --> 00:26:16.710
The fingerprint officers were able to examine Shirley Banks' house
399
00:26:17.490 --> 00:26:22.009
and produce a composite set of finger marks from items
400
00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:25.829
that she would touch in the normal course of her life.
401
00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:30.549
So common items, things like long playing record covers, cassettes,
402
00:26:31.049 --> 00:26:34.190
and actually build up a set of composites from those
403
00:26:34.509 --> 00:26:39.549
frequently handled items. which would then be compared against the mark,
404
00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:43.829
the image that was recovered from Canan's address. It proved
405
00:26:43.849 --> 00:26:46.410
that connection. It proved that she'd actually been in the
406
00:26:46.450 --> 00:26:47.710
house at the time.
407
00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:54.210
There was now no doubt that Shirley Banks had been
408
00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:59.440
inside John Canan's home. Worried that the wily 33-year-old would
409
00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:03.200
try and wriggle his way out of the accusation, detectives
410
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:05.519
knew they had to be one step ahead.
411
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:11.079
So, cleverly, they take John Canan to the scene and
412
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.160
say to him, you know, has Shirley Banks ever been
413
00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:14.900
in your flat?
414
00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:15.839
Answer, no.
415
00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:18.640
Well, here, this is some of the things we found
416
00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:19.559
in your flat.
417
00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:21.519
Are they yours? Yes.
418
00:27:22.099 --> 00:27:23.140
Showed him the document.
419
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:24.779
Is this yours?
420
00:27:25.059 --> 00:27:30.210
Yes. Did this document ever leave your flat? Answer, no.
421
00:27:31.170 --> 00:27:34.079
How do you explain Shirley Banks' thumbprint is on it?
422
00:27:35.769 --> 00:27:38.130
It was a clever series of events to make him
423
00:27:38.190 --> 00:27:40.549
admit everything before they played the trump card.
424
00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:47.819
On the 23rd of December, 1987, John Canan was charged
425
00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:52.160
with the murder of Shirley Banks, but investigators hadn't found
426
00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:55.759
her body, and Canan was still denying everything.
427
00:27:56.819 --> 00:28:00.829
There are cases where somebody's been convicted of a murder
428
00:28:00.990 --> 00:28:05.779
with no body, and there are some very good instances
429
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:09.220
of that over the years, but it makes it difficult
430
00:28:09.289 --> 00:28:13.569
for the investigators. You know, you can have all the
431
00:28:13.630 --> 00:28:15.029
evidence in the world, but if you haven't got a
432
00:28:15.049 --> 00:28:17.869
cause of death, you can't say it's murder with any certainty.
433
00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:25.289
On the 3rd of April 1988, a woman foraging in
434
00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:29.670
the eerily and aptly named Dead Woman's Ditch in Somerset
435
00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:36.089
made a grisly discovery. Six months after she disappeared, the
436
00:28:36.150 --> 00:28:39.849
body of Shirley Banks had finally been found.
437
00:28:40.829 --> 00:28:44.519
The body was naked, decomposed as you'd imagine, and alongside it,
438
00:28:44.569 --> 00:28:49.599
they found elements of her jewelry and also fibers and
439
00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:52.200
parts of the blue and white dress that she had
440
00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:53.279
bought from Topshop.
441
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:02.660
In Shirley's case, she was battered about the head could
442
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:06.490
have been something like a baseball bat or a heavy
443
00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:09.509
boulder or rock or something like that, you know, trauma
444
00:29:09.549 --> 00:29:13.690
to the head, which causes severe bleeding, and that would
445
00:29:13.710 --> 00:29:14.529
have been the cause of death.
446
00:29:16.329 --> 00:29:21.670
With confirmation that Shirley had indeed been murdered, investigators continued
447
00:29:21.710 --> 00:29:24.410
to build their case against John Canan.
448
00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:30.940
So the forensic evidence is mounting up. All the bits
449
00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:36.960
are falling into place. all the other police forces where
450
00:29:37.130 --> 00:29:41.960
the other serial sex offences have taken place. place, notify
451
00:29:42.019 --> 00:29:45.640
Avon and Somerset and they follow it up.
452
00:29:46.829 --> 00:29:51.890
Further investigations led to charges being filed against Canan, ranging
453
00:29:51.930 --> 00:29:56.589
from assault and GBH to theft and murder. Detectives in
454
00:29:56.700 --> 00:30:03.750
Reading also reopened an unsolved rape case from 1986. DNA
455
00:30:03.789 --> 00:30:06.769
had come on in leaps and bounds in just a
456
00:30:06.849 --> 00:30:07.650
couple of years.
457
00:30:09.410 --> 00:30:13.450
We'd had advances in procedures to extract and recover DNA,
458
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:15.619
so it was far more discriminating.
459
00:30:17.339 --> 00:30:20.400
And so they went back and they got forensics to
460
00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:25.119
reanalyse the semen stains they'd picked up from the ladies' clothing.
461
00:30:25.890 --> 00:30:28.730
When they'd done the original match two years before, they
462
00:30:28.769 --> 00:30:31.079
said there was a one in 2,000 chance of it
463
00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:37.799
being Canaan's semen. Now it was one in 260 million chance.
464
00:30:39.609 --> 00:30:42.390
So with great pleasure, police were now able to charge
465
00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:45.569
John Canaan for the first time with the Reading rape.
466
00:30:51.769 --> 00:30:56.269
At his trial at Exeter Crown Court in April 1989,
467
00:30:56.269 --> 00:31:00.769
John Canan was charged with 16 different offences, including the
468
00:31:00.769 --> 00:31:06.579
1987 murder of Shirley Banks, the Reading rape in 1986,
469
00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:10.279
and even the assault on his ex-partner in 1980, who
470
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:14.240
felt brave enough to come forward almost a decade later.
471
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:19.230
It was very unusual for a judge to accept more
472
00:31:19.269 --> 00:31:24.480
than one previous offence. allegation charge, and a number of
473
00:31:24.579 --> 00:31:28.529
charges were tried at the same time by the same
474
00:31:28.589 --> 00:31:31.200
jury in this particular case, and the judge allowed it.
475
00:31:33.210 --> 00:31:37.690
On the 28th of April, 1989, John Canan faced the
476
00:31:37.769 --> 00:31:38.819
jury's verdict.
477
00:31:38.839 --> 00:31:42.779
I have to say, having sat there in court that day,
478
00:31:43.339 --> 00:31:45.190
I believe he thought he would get away with it,
479
00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.240
even though the weight of the evidence in that trial
480
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:52.450
was clearly going in one direction. but he thought he
481
00:31:52.490 --> 00:31:57.390
would still get away with it. John Canan looked stunned
482
00:31:57.509 --> 00:32:01.410
by the first verdict. Once the first verdict of guilty,
483
00:32:01.450 --> 00:32:05.359
which was the sex attack on his ex-girlfriend, he knew
484
00:32:05.410 --> 00:32:08.400
that the rest, like dominoes, would just fall in the
485
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:09.119
same direction.
486
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.160
John Canan was found guilty and told he would spend
487
00:32:14.299 --> 00:32:16.000
life behind bars.
488
00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:25.750
The judge, Mr Justice Drake, described him as vile and evil, violent, horrible,
489
00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:30.789
beneath his veneer of charm in a very telling statement.
490
00:32:31.089 --> 00:32:34.869
He also said this man should never be put at liberty.
491
00:32:35.529 --> 00:32:38.150
He made it quite clear that he intended that this
492
00:32:38.210 --> 00:32:40.529
man should have a life means life tariff.
493
00:32:41.819 --> 00:32:45.720
Safely locked away in prison, John Canaan was no longer
494
00:32:45.779 --> 00:32:49.299
a threat to women, but his story was far from over.
495
00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:55.950
Since his incarceration, he's been linked to a number of
496
00:32:56.130 --> 00:33:01.289
unsolved cases. But his unwillingness to cooperate with police inquiries
497
00:33:01.730 --> 00:33:05.160
has led to many investigations reaching a dead end.
498
00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:09.460
I have no doubt that there are other victims of Canaan,
499
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.849
whether those are women he's killed, whether they're women he's
500
00:33:12.930 --> 00:33:16.589
raped and sexually assaulted. I don't believe that he will
501
00:33:16.690 --> 00:33:20.450
ever reveal details of them that would lead to a conviction.
502
00:33:20.769 --> 00:33:23.450
I think he's going to sprinkle a few details here
503
00:33:23.490 --> 00:33:25.960
and there. He's going to drop a few hints because
504
00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:28.380
he quite enjoys toying with people.
505
00:33:28.180 --> 00:33:28.799
In that way.
506
00:33:30.359 --> 00:33:34.460
Possible links have been explored between Canan and the unsolved
507
00:33:34.529 --> 00:33:40.710
murder of 27-year-old Sandra Court in Bournemouth in May 1986.
508
00:33:40.769 --> 00:33:44.009
And he remains the prime suspect for one of Britain's
509
00:33:44.049 --> 00:33:49.089
most infamous cold cases, the disappearance of Susie Lamplew.
510
00:33:50.009 --> 00:33:55.150
Susie was last seen on the morning of 28th of July, 1986.
511
00:33:55.150 --> 00:33:58.980
She turned up for work. It was a Monday morning
512
00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:04.299
in Sturgis' estate agents in Fulham Road. And in her diary,
513
00:34:04.539 --> 00:34:07.420
she had an appointment with a Mr. Kipper for later
514
00:34:07.460 --> 00:34:08.019
that morning.
515
00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:09.920
She subsequently.
516
00:34:10.510 --> 00:34:15.179
left the estate agents, got into the company car and
517
00:34:15.260 --> 00:34:19.619
drove to view a house in Cheryl's Road and another
518
00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.500
one near Bishop's Park in Fulham.
519
00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:26.719
And she never returned. And she's never been seen or
520
00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:27.380
heard of since.
521
00:34:29.260 --> 00:34:33.500
From the day that 25-year-old Susie went missing, her brother
522
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.150
Richard has experienced a whole range of emotions.
523
00:34:38.110 --> 00:34:42.309
As a someone who's missing, you don't want to look
524
00:34:42.369 --> 00:34:46.030
at it and sort of think, oh, she's dead. Or, oh, she's,
525
00:34:46.610 --> 00:34:50.269
you know, you always want to think positively and feel positive.
526
00:34:50.769 --> 00:34:55.050
And so you want to always keep your hopes up
527
00:34:55.829 --> 00:34:58.570
that she might just walk through the door. And that's
528
00:34:58.610 --> 00:35:01.489
what I felt. I didn't feel like it was time
529
00:35:01.530 --> 00:35:04.030
to grieve or anything. It wasn't time to miss her.
530
00:35:04.610 --> 00:35:08.409
I just wanted a happy outcome. You get to the
531
00:35:08.469 --> 00:35:12.030
stage where You know, after maybe two months, you sort
532
00:35:12.070 --> 00:35:15.170
of think, oh, maybe she's not coming, you know, maybe
533
00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:20.730
that is it. So I felt myself, I was trying
534
00:35:20.769 --> 00:35:23.329
to keep my hopes up all the time, which is
535
00:35:23.389 --> 00:35:25.829
quite exhausting in a way, but I think it's a
536
00:35:26.110 --> 00:35:31.820
way of sort of coping with it.
537
00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:35.820
By 1999, when Jim Dickey took over the investigation, the
538
00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:40.539
Susie Lamplugh case had gone unsolved. for 13 years.
539
00:35:41.619 --> 00:35:45.849
The original investigation petered out after a number of years.
540
00:35:47.090 --> 00:35:50.409
Everything that could be followed up, that was obvious, had
541
00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:53.769
been followed up. It wasn't put away, as we say
542
00:35:53.809 --> 00:35:58.130
in police parlance, i.e. it's filed away and, you know,
543
00:35:58.630 --> 00:36:00.829
is left to gather dust. That wasn't done. It was
544
00:36:00.889 --> 00:36:04.739
still an open inquiry, but just no one was actually
545
00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:05.400
working on it.
546
00:36:06.610 --> 00:36:10.269
Jim believes that John Canan attacked Susie just after he'd
547
00:36:10.309 --> 00:36:13.769
been freed from serving five years in prison for the
548
00:36:13.809 --> 00:36:16.610
rape of the pregnant mother in her knitwear shop.
549
00:36:17.590 --> 00:36:21.010
He was released from prison on the 26th of July.
550
00:36:21.489 --> 00:36:24.860
Susie went missing on the 28th of July. And we
551
00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:30.280
have witnesses that put Canan staring into the estate agent's
552
00:36:30.340 --> 00:36:34.260
window on the Sunday, the 27th. We have a cab
553
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:39.780
driver witness who dropped John Canaan in Fulham Broadway on
554
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:46.469
the 28th. Two witnesses compiled an e-fit with a police officer,
555
00:36:46.829 --> 00:36:47.590
and that.
556
00:36:47.469 --> 00:36:49.190
Picture, if you looked at it today.
557
00:36:49.210 --> 00:36:52.449
And it was published in all the media, you would say,
558
00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:56.079
looking at a photograph of John Canaan, that was John Canaan.
559
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:02.570
During the investigation into the disappearance of Shirley Banks, who
560
00:37:02.590 --> 00:37:07.449
Canan murdered in 1987, her mini was discovered at his home.
561
00:37:08.150 --> 00:37:12.090
It had been repainted, and the registration number had been changed.
562
00:37:12.789 --> 00:37:16.429
It was this alteration that piqued many people's interests.
563
00:37:18.269 --> 00:37:21.739
SLP 386S. There is a theory.
564
00:37:22.739 --> 00:37:28.610
Susie Lamplew, third victim of 86... That's one school of thought.
565
00:37:28.670 --> 00:37:31.389
Another school of thought, it could be a map reference
566
00:37:32.190 --> 00:37:36.050
for the deposition of a body on an ordnance survey map. Now,
567
00:37:36.409 --> 00:37:39.460
whether that is right or not, I don't know, but
568
00:37:39.500 --> 00:37:43.619
it's pretty close to where Shirley Banks' body was recovered,
569
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:47.099
which is near Dead Woman's Ditch in the Quantocks in Somerset.
570
00:37:48.860 --> 00:37:53.429
In December 2000, officers from Jim Dickey's team had the
571
00:37:53.489 --> 00:37:58.619
opportunity to interview John Canan in prisons. Throughout the interrogation,
572
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:02.539
the 46-year-old killer maintained his composure.
573
00:38:03.909 --> 00:38:07.190
He was quite quick-witted, I'll give him that, because when
574
00:38:07.230 --> 00:38:11.230
we interviewed him, what he does, and we knew this
575
00:38:11.250 --> 00:38:14.909
because we researched it, that he would try and turn
576
00:38:14.929 --> 00:38:17.309
the interview in its head so that he's asking you
577
00:38:17.369 --> 00:38:19.789
questions as opposed to us asking him.
578
00:38:20.170 --> 00:38:22.969
And we were prepared for that. We knew that. We
579
00:38:23.010 --> 00:38:24.510
knew he was going to do that. And what did
580
00:38:24.530 --> 00:38:24.809
he do?
581
00:38:24.989 --> 00:38:27.389
He did exactly that. But if you look at his
582
00:38:27.409 --> 00:38:30.690
body language on the video, it says it all. Some
583
00:38:30.789 --> 00:38:33.150
questions he did not have an answer for, and he
584
00:38:33.210 --> 00:38:35.010
was very, very uncomfortable.
585
00:38:35.969 --> 00:38:38.250
And as far as I'm concerned, Sam, it's very simple.
586
00:38:39.130 --> 00:38:42.159
If something looks like a duck, wobbles like a duck,
587
00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:44.719
and cracks like a duck, I think we can say,
588
00:38:45.659 --> 00:38:46.340
what can a duck do?
589
00:38:49.030 --> 00:38:52.389
You often find him saying these cryptic things to people
590
00:38:52.570 --> 00:38:56.210
and these things that are supposed to get people going, what?
591
00:38:56.989 --> 00:38:59.849
And that is because he enjoys being in control. He
592
00:39:00.030 --> 00:39:02.070
likes to be the one who's pulling the strings.
593
00:39:02.869 --> 00:39:04.630
It's a crime. I've done many things wrong in my life.
594
00:39:05.929 --> 00:39:09.170
Things that, believe me, I am genuinely sorry for. One
595
00:39:09.250 --> 00:39:10.469
or two things I haven't been caught for.
596
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:20.690
John Canan has always denied any involvement in the disappearance
597
00:39:20.769 --> 00:39:25.469
of Susie Lamplew. Without a body and with no forensic evidence,
598
00:39:25.869 --> 00:39:29.889
the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence
599
00:39:29.969 --> 00:39:36.159
to prosecute. But in November 2002, the Metropolitan Police announced
600
00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:39.679
they weren't looking for anyone else in connection with the case.
601
00:39:40.739 --> 00:39:42.880
There are people who know things if they came forward.
602
00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:45.739
We would only need a small amount of fresh evidence
603
00:39:45.780 --> 00:39:47.239
now to.
604
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:50.000
Bring what we believe would be a credible prosecution.
605
00:39:51.349 --> 00:39:55.650
I was there at the press conference, and yes, it
606
00:39:55.730 --> 00:40:01.369
was unprecedented for them to do this, but there was
607
00:40:01.429 --> 00:40:04.730
the only course of action that they could take. It
608
00:40:04.789 --> 00:40:07.710
does seem like he's got away with it. He obviously
609
00:40:07.730 --> 00:40:12.510
hasn't been prosecuted for my sister's murder, but it all
610
00:40:12.570 --> 00:40:15.860
seems the roads, as they say, all seem to.
611
00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:16.519
Lead to him.
612
00:40:18.760 --> 00:40:24.500
In 2018, police excavated the garden at Canan's mother's former home.
613
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.719
They'd received information that Canan laid a new patio in
614
00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:32.800
the months following Susie's disappearance and hoped to have finally
615
00:40:32.900 --> 00:40:36.360
found her. Nothing was uncovered.
616
00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:40.380
In my view, John Canan will take the secrets of
617
00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:44.570
Susie Lamplugh's death to his grave. I cannot see him.
618
00:40:46.090 --> 00:40:49.260
opening up and admitting that he had anything to do
619
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.219
with it or showing any remorse about what happened at all.
620
00:40:52.820 --> 00:40:55.300
I have nothing but contempt for this man.
621
00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:01.780
I would love to bury Suze where we want as
622
00:41:01.860 --> 00:41:06.139
a family to bury her rather than where he has
623
00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:06.739
buried her.
624
00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:12.860
Although Canan was sentenced to life in prison, he is
625
00:41:12.949 --> 00:41:17.119
due for parole in the near future. after serving 35
626
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.119
years behind bars.
627
00:41:22.300 --> 00:41:24.610
You just hope and pray that they don't let this
628
00:41:24.670 --> 00:41:28.269
man out, because I think it would be a horrific
629
00:41:28.610 --> 00:41:32.630
situation if they were to let him out. Because really,
630
00:41:32.989 --> 00:41:35.289
you know, this is a man who should not be
631
00:41:35.349 --> 00:41:36.550
at large in society.
632
00:41:38.110 --> 00:41:43.289
He sees himself as of superior intelligence, intellect, and the
633
00:41:43.349 --> 00:41:46.329
rest of us are just plebs. We might be plebs
634
00:41:46.369 --> 00:41:49.929
in his eyes, but he's an arrogant serial sex offender,
635
00:41:50.289 --> 00:41:53.650
and if he's ever released from prison, God knows what
636
00:41:53.690 --> 00:41:54.230
he will do.
637
00:41:56.659 --> 00:42:01.639
For now, John Canan remains behind bars, a convicted rapist
638
00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:05.559
and murderer who ruined so many lives. The pain he
639
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:09.090
inflicted not just on Shirley Banks but on her family
640
00:42:09.570 --> 00:42:11.070
should never be forgotten.
641
00:42:12.630 --> 00:42:15.489
I have four kids of my own. I cannot think
642
00:42:15.530 --> 00:42:19.630
what it's like to have to bury your child and
643
00:42:19.690 --> 00:42:22.690
to do it under those circumstances and to have lived
644
00:42:22.710 --> 00:42:26.369
through a period when her body hadn't been found as
645
00:42:26.429 --> 00:42:30.639
well is just utterly, utterly appalling. I think in all
646
00:42:30.659 --> 00:42:35.300
of this we shouldn't forget the broad range of victims
647
00:42:35.460 --> 00:42:39.820
of Canaan. because it's not just those individuals who were victims.
648
00:42:40.489 --> 00:42:43.670
All sorts of members of their families were victims too.
649
00:42:44.230 --> 00:42:47.690
They were all victims of John Canaan.
650
00:42:50.550 --> 00:42:55.349
Canaan is a violent sexual predator. He's displayed no remorse
651
00:42:55.389 --> 00:42:58.690
for any of his crimes, from raping a pregnant woman
652
00:42:58.750 --> 00:43:01.940
in front of her own mother and child, to killing
653
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.880
a newlywed for nothing more than his own self-gratification. Hiding
654
00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:11.500
behind the veneer of a suave businessman, John Canaan thought
655
00:43:11.539 --> 00:43:14.780
he was God's gift to women. But in fact, he
656
00:43:14.820 --> 00:43:19.250
was the devil in disguise and undoubtedly one of the
657
00:43:19.369 --> 00:43:21.570
world's most evil killers.
