SCOTLAND Yard is set to dismiss any links between serial killer Steve Wright and the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, it emerged last night.

Danielle Nuttall

SCOTLAND Yard is set to dismiss any links between serial killer Steve Wright and the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, it emerged last night.

The force was one of a number to contact detectives in Suffolk about unsolved murders following the conviction of former publican Wright in February.

But it is understood Met police now do not think Wright was involved and are close to officially dismissing links.

Sources said while it was a line of inquiry it is looking increasingly likely the 49-year-old forklift truck driver will soon be ruled out.

Miss Lamplugh, 25, disappeared in 1986 after leaving her offices in Fulham, west London. Her body was never found but she was officially declared dead in 1994.

She and Wright both worked on the QE2 in the 1980s. Wright was a steward and Miss Lamplugh a beautician.

A spokeswoman for the Met Police said last night: “It's not a strong line of inquiry.”

She added that the Lamplugh case remained open.

Wright, of London Road, Ipswich, was jailed for the rest of his life earlier this year after a jury convicted him of the murders of Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

The naked bodies of the five women were found in isolated spots around Ipswich over a 10-day period in December 2006.

Wright admitted frequenting prostitutes in Ipswich and having sex with four of the victims, though he insisted he did not kill them.

But the jurors accepted the prosecution case that he “systematically selected and murdered” the women - either asphyxiating them or compressing their necks - over a six-and-a-half-week “campaign of murder”.

He has since lodged court papers seeking permission to appeal against his conviction.

Since his trial, there has been speculation that he could have been involved with the murders of Norwich prostitutes Natalie Pearman, Kellie Pratt and Michelle Bettles, who went missing while working in the city's red-light district.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull previously told the EADT detectives were drawing up a “timeline” of the former publican's life to map his whereabouts and identify areas that warranted further investigation.