Diana Lamplugh and her husband Paul in 2000.
Shortly after her daughter's disappearance on a sunny July day in 1986, Diana Lamplugh, head held high, walked into a crowded press conference and announced: "I am Suzy Lamplugh's mother." Her daughter was the 25-year-old London estate agent who went to meet a client known only as "Mr Kipper", and was never seen again. For Diana, who has died aged 75 after a stroke, it triggered a personal crusade – not only to establish the fate of her daughter, but also to try and safeguard others, and it turned her into a household name.
Within weeks, Diana was already thinking about the future – one probably without Suzy. On 4 December, she launched the Suzy Lamplugh Trust – a charity whose initial aim was to raise money for self-awareness courses for people at work, but which over the years has extended to enabling people from all walks of life to live life fully but safely. She ran it with the help of her husband, Paul, a solicitor whom she met in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where they were both brought up. But it was the charismatic Diana who over the years became the public face of the trust as she travelled relentlessly up and down the country giving talks and organising conferences and seminars for every kind of organisation.
The charity – with a staff of 15 – was initially run from the Lamplughs' house in south-west London, equipped with an office in the garden. Diana worked tirelessly on numerous committees – some of them governmental – and led campaigns for changes in the law, the most successful of which included measures to combat harassment and stalking, the registration of sex offenders and registration of minicabs. She was appointed OBE and awarded four honorary doctorates for her work, and with Paul (also later appointed OBE), the Beacon prize for leadership in personal safety. She also wrote many books, training manuals and articles.
She knew she was open to criticism, but responded: "There are those who think I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. But if I had a long face and was dressed in black, I wouldn't get my message across. It certainly wouldn't bring Suzy back either." As the years passed, she became convinced that "even if Suzy walked through the door tomorrow, the trust would have to go on."
Diana was born in Cheltenham, the eldest child of David Howell and his wife Colleen, with three younger brothers. She was always headstrong, and at the age of four attempted to run away from home. Her parents had her educated privately at Westonbirt school, a boarding establishment near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, but she left at the age of 16, having been told she was "only good enough to be a typist".
Her father, however, a solicitor and a competent amateur actor, taught her how to project herself on stage, and hold an audience. It was a training that Diana failed to follow through – "I wasn't good enough" – but which became invaluable in later life when she needed to project herself in public. She opted instead for a series of secretarial jobs and married Paul in 1958 after he proposed to her on her Vespa scooter.
Suzy was the second of their four children, all of whom suffered to varying degrees from dyslexia. It was a happy marriage, though Diana confessed she was hardly domesticated. She taught swimming and, along with a partner, set up a nationwide organisation for health and fitness called Slimnastics, which ran classes combining exercise with healthy eating, stress control and life skills.
But she was never happier than when she was looking after elderly relatives or organising themed parties for her children, though she always maintained that Suzy, a high-spirited young woman, was the one who looked after them all, the one they relied on. The day before her abduction she rang Diana. "She was all bubbly, telling me how she was doing this and that. I said, 'Be careful, darling'. 'No, life's for living, mummy,' she replied. And I think she was right."
After her disappearance, Diana and Paul had to learn more about their daughter – who before becoming an estate agent had been a beautician on the QE2 – than most parents would want. It amounted to nothing more than a liberated life of the 60s generation which would have remained private to Suzy had it not been for the widely publicised circumstances of her disappearance and the open-ended nature of the unresolved investigation. Suzy's body was never found. She was declared dead in 1994, and finally, in 2002, the police named a convicted murderer and rapist, John Cannan, as her likely killer, but they neither obtained a confession, nor brought him to trial. Cannan denied involvement.
A year later, after a severe stroke, Diana was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and spent the rest of her life in care. Her husband, who survives her, visited her daily. She is also survived by her children Richard, Tamsin and Lizzie and seven grandchildren.
• Diana Elizabeth Lamplugh, campaigner, born 30 July 1936; died 18 August 2011
Within weeks, Diana was already thinking about the future – one probably without Suzy. On 4 December, she launched the Suzy Lamplugh Trust – a charity whose initial aim was to raise money for self-awareness courses for people at work, but which over the years has extended to enabling people from all walks of life to live life fully but safely. She ran it with the help of her husband, Paul, a solicitor whom she met in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where they were both brought up. But it was the charismatic Diana who over the years became the public face of the trust as she travelled relentlessly up and down the country giving talks and organising conferences and seminars for every kind of organisation.
The charity – with a staff of 15 – was initially run from the Lamplughs' house in south-west London, equipped with an office in the garden. Diana worked tirelessly on numerous committees – some of them governmental – and led campaigns for changes in the law, the most successful of which included measures to combat harassment and stalking, the registration of sex offenders and registration of minicabs. She was appointed OBE and awarded four honorary doctorates for her work, and with Paul (also later appointed OBE), the Beacon prize for leadership in personal safety. She also wrote many books, training manuals and articles.
She knew she was open to criticism, but responded: "There are those who think I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. But if I had a long face and was dressed in black, I wouldn't get my message across. It certainly wouldn't bring Suzy back either." As the years passed, she became convinced that "even if Suzy walked through the door tomorrow, the trust would have to go on."
Diana was born in Cheltenham, the eldest child of David Howell and his wife Colleen, with three younger brothers. She was always headstrong, and at the age of four attempted to run away from home. Her parents had her educated privately at Westonbirt school, a boarding establishment near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, but she left at the age of 16, having been told she was "only good enough to be a typist".
Her father, however, a solicitor and a competent amateur actor, taught her how to project herself on stage, and hold an audience. It was a training that Diana failed to follow through – "I wasn't good enough" – but which became invaluable in later life when she needed to project herself in public. She opted instead for a series of secretarial jobs and married Paul in 1958 after he proposed to her on her Vespa scooter.
Suzy was the second of their four children, all of whom suffered to varying degrees from dyslexia. It was a happy marriage, though Diana confessed she was hardly domesticated. She taught swimming and, along with a partner, set up a nationwide organisation for health and fitness called Slimnastics, which ran classes combining exercise with healthy eating, stress control and life skills.
But she was never happier than when she was looking after elderly relatives or organising themed parties for her children, though she always maintained that Suzy, a high-spirited young woman, was the one who looked after them all, the one they relied on. The day before her abduction she rang Diana. "She was all bubbly, telling me how she was doing this and that. I said, 'Be careful, darling'. 'No, life's for living, mummy,' she replied. And I think she was right."
After her disappearance, Diana and Paul had to learn more about their daughter – who before becoming an estate agent had been a beautician on the QE2 – than most parents would want. It amounted to nothing more than a liberated life of the 60s generation which would have remained private to Suzy had it not been for the widely publicised circumstances of her disappearance and the open-ended nature of the unresolved investigation. Suzy's body was never found. She was declared dead in 1994, and finally, in 2002, the police named a convicted murderer and rapist, John Cannan, as her likely killer, but they neither obtained a confession, nor brought him to trial. Cannan denied involvement.
A year later, after a severe stroke, Diana was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and spent the rest of her life in care. Her husband, who survives her, visited her daily. She is also survived by her children Richard, Tamsin and Lizzie and seven grandchildren.
• Diana Elizabeth Lamplugh, campaigner, born 30 July 1936; died 18 August 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment