Convicted killer John Cannan – the prime suspect in one of Britain’s most notorious crime mysteries – was cremated at the taxpayer’s expense after he died with nothing in prison. The 70-year-old, who was from Sutton Coldfield, was serving a life sentence for the 1987 murder of newlywed Shirley Banks when he died at HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire in November 2024.
Cannan was linked by police to the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, who vanished after attending a house viewing in Fulham, west London, in 1986. But he consistently denied any involvement. Now the Mirror has reported the Prison Service paid for his cremation, thought to have cost more than £1,000, after he died with less than £100 to his name.
A relative said he had been disowned by his family and none of them attended the service. The relative – who refused to be named – said: “In terms of John’s inheritance, there was literally less than £100 left.
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“No family members will be attending his funeral. The prison authorities are kindly arranging all of this, on our request.” Ministry of Justice guidelines say that following a death in custody, Governors must “offer to contribute to reasonable funeral expenses”.
Up to £3,000 is available for services, with the Prison Service covering basic funeral expenses such as simple coffins and funeral directors’ fees. However they do not fund wakes, headstones, burial plots, flowers or transport for mourners and the money is paid directly to the funeral directors.
John Cannan died in November 2024 aged 70.
(Image: SWNS)
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “John Cannan’s crimes were horrific and our thoughts remain with Shirley Banks’ friends and family. It is standard practice for the Prison Service to cover basic funeral expenses for any death in custody, and this money is paid directly to the funeral director.”
After Cannan’s death, Lamplugh’s brother Richard said it seemed there was now little hope of he and his sisters Lizzie and Tamsin finding out what happened to her. But he said there was a chance Cannan may have left some clues in books he wrote from his cell.
The father-of-two said: “I gather he was writing books in prison, so maybe someone could read them and have a look at it. But it won’t be me. There’s a lingering hope that maybe he left a hidden message or a note that would give a clue about what happened to Suze”, reports the Mirror.
Richard, who was in his late 20s at the time, said: “The thing that makes me sad, I felt I was quite close to Suze, and the one thing I do miss is that it would have been lovely to know what her family was like. She’d be a lovely mum. She was quite a mother duck, gentle. She had that warm nature.”