COPS searching for the body of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh began digging up a garden yesterday — in the hope of solving a 32-year mystery.

The property in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, is the former home of the mother of prime suspect John Cannan. Suzy, 25, was abducted in 1986 and declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.

It follows information that Cannan may have buried 25-year-old Suzy there after abducting and murdering her.

Excavation work was focusing on an old corrugated iron garage in the back garden of the semi- detached property in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids.

A forensic tent was also placed over an area of concrete patio.

Suzy disappeared after going to meet a client named “Mr Kipper” to show him two houses in Fulham, South West London in July 1986.

Her body has never been found, though she was declared dead — presumed murdered — in 1994.

It remains one of Britain’s most infamous unsolved murders.

But cold case review detectives now suspect that after murdering Suzy, Cannan may have driven to what was then his mother’s home.

They fear he put Suzy’s body in an inspection pit in the garage he used for working on cars, before filling it with concrete.

The corrugated iron structure was yesterday dismantled by Met Police specialist search cops to enable excavation work to start.

Ground-penetrating radar was used to scan the area and a tent was erected where the garage stood.

The team of about a dozen officers had shovels and garden forks on hand for digging.

A side entrance to the garden via a small private track, was cordoned off at around 8am as the search team arrived in eight police vans.

Officers conducted the grim search just a few feet from a children’s trampoline and a swing.

The importance of the search is enhanced by Cannan’s habit of returning to his mother’s home after committing serious crimes.

It is believed that his mother Sheila is in her 80s and living in a different part of the country.

There is no suggestion that she was involved in or had any knowledge of this or any of his crimes.

The search at her former home is expected to go on for several days. A forensic archaeologist is guiding cops during the search.

It is being carried out with the full consent of a family who have lived there since Cannan’s mother moved out in 1992.

The cold case review team is not conducting a full-scale investigation into Suzy’s abduction and murder but are said to be acting on specific information relating to the potential burial site.

A source said: “The couple who lived there were shocked when the police came to them asking to search their garden.

“But they have given their full consent to the search.

“Police have already conducted a cursory examination there and established that everything fits with what they were told.”

Cannan, now 64, is serving a minimum 35 years in Full Sutton prison for the murder of Shirley Banks in 1987.

Information was first received in December 2002 from one of Cannan’s fellow prisoners, that Suzy was buried under the patio at his mother’s house.

The inmate came forward after police took the highly unusual step of naming Cannan as their prime suspect when the CPS ruled there was insufficient information to charge him with Suzy’s murder.

Cannan is serving three life sentences for murdering newlywed Shirley in Bristol in October 1987, attempting to kidnap a woman the previous evening and raping another woman at knifepoint in Reading, Berks, a year earlier.

The suspected serial killer was captured three weeks after Shirley, 29, vanished, when he robbed a dress shop assistant at knifepoint in Leamington Spa, Warwicks.

A road tax disc from Shirley’s car was found in the glove box of Cannan’s black BMW. It led to the discovery of her Mini Clubman in his garage at a block of flats where he lived in Clifton, Bristol.

The Mini had the false number plate SLP 386S — suspected of being a reference to Suzy’s name.

Cannan was given a whole life sentence at Exeter crown court in April 1989, but it was commuted on appeal to a 35-year minimum tariff, meaning he is eligible to apply for parole in four years.

Ex-car salesman Cannan is also a leading suspect in the murder of Bournemouth insurance worker Sandra Court, 27, whose body was found in a water-filled ditch after she was abducted in May 1986.

Despite a wealth of circumstantial evidence in Suzy’s murder pointing towards Cannan, the case against him has been undermined by a lack of forensic evidence and a body.

Three major searches for Suzy were conducted in the early 2000s and in 2010.

The first two focused on a former barracks site in Worcestershire.

Then in 2010 a field near the barracks was searched, along with a Quantock Hills earthwork site in Somerset known as Dead Woman’s Ditch, where Shirley’s body was found in 1988.

The Met Police said last night: “The search follows information received in relation to a historical unsolved investigation.

“We will not be commenting on speculation surrounding the search, or providing any further information at this time.”