How the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh inspired two sisters to start a charity
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From a cramped home in the suburb of East Sheen in London, sisters Mary Asprey and Janet Newman set out to make history in 1986. The siblings had been shaken by the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, whose family lived nearby. The 25-year-old vanished in July 1986 after she arranged to meet a client called ‘Mr Kipper’ to show him around a house for sale in Fulham.
Mary and Janet had seen how Suzy’s parents, Paul and Diana, were left to navigate the confusion of their daughter’s disappearance alone. Police could provide updates, but there was no direct support during their ordeal. Desperate to help, Mary and Janet mobilised volunteers to launch a helpline from their shared East Sheen home. They wanted to offer comfort to people concerned about the Lamplugh case, whether they were directly involved or not.
Soon, it became clear that there was a huge demand for their services. Up and down the UK, hundreds of families had lost a loved one in mysterious circumstances and were struggling to cope. In 1992, Mary and Janet took the massive risk to re-mortgage their house and use the funds to start the charity. Volunteers were bolstered by staff members who comforted devastated parents, passed on messages from missing teenagers and campaigned for greater support for families of missing people. The sisters’ success was cemented in its first year by an office visit from Diana, Princess of Wales in October.
‘Mary and Janet were amazing advocates,’ Jo Youle OBE, CEO of Missing People, tells Metro from the charity’s office in East Sheen. ‘They knew the Lamplugh family and they all lived in Sheen, which is how the charity ended up being based here. Mary and Janet realised there was no support for Suzy’s parents and wanted to do something about it.
