Instead, the case against Cannan claimed, he drove her to a wooded valley known as Dead Woman’s Ditch in the Quantocks, Somerset, where he killed her.

Her body was found in a shallow creek in the area more than six months later, months after Cannan was arrested on suspicion of her December 1987 murder.

Three weeks after Shirley disappeared, a tax disc for her Mini was discovered in Cannan’s car.

The Mini itself was later discovered in his garage, having been painted blue, and investigators found his thumbprint at the Leigh Woods flat where Cannan was living at the time.

Cannan was charged with Shirley’s murder and his trial began on April 5, 1989.

He also faced eight other charges, including sex offenses and attempted kidnapping related to incidents involving other women.

He was jailed for life in 1989.

In October 2023, a parole board ruled that Cannan was too dangerous to be released, and the board heard that he had still maintained his innocence and had not committed to any program to reduce his risk of reoffending.