SEARCHES of a back garden in connection with the murder of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh have been extended to a patio area.

Miss Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, after going missing aged 25 in 1986, having left her west London offices to meet a mystery Client known only as Mr Kipper.

Specialist forensics teams have been focusing their activity on the rear garden of a semi-detached house in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, which once belonged to the mother of prime suspect John Cannan.

Convicted murderer Cannan, who is currently in jail for rape and murder, was named as prime suspect by police in 2002 and Miss Lamplugh's death has remained one of the UK's most notorious cold cases.

He denies any involvement.

It is not the first site to be dug in the search for her remains.

Police twice excavated sites in Worcestershire, first near Norton Barracks in 2000 and then a meadow several miles away in 2010.