Police looking for Suzy Lamplugh, an estate agent who went missing in 1986, have launched a forensic review into a possible new clue to her disappearance.

Detectives investigating Cheltenham -born Lamplugh’s disappearance hope new technology will crack the case after 37 years.

The 25-year-old estate agent vanished when she went to show a client around a flat in Fulham, south west London, in 1986.

She was never found and was declared dead in absentia in 1993, but the case has remained a mystery.

Now, hairs, fibres and body tissue samples found in her abandoned car are believed to be the focus of the new scientific probe. It is thought to be the longest running murder probe in the UK, having been actively investigated since the day she disappeared on 28 July 1986.

Police also found a smudged fingerprint on the rear-view mirror of the car that they believe could belong to the killer.

They were able to extract a small amount of DNA from it in 2000, but not enough to give a profile of its owner.

Jim Dickie, a former detective on the case, said: “I am unaware if the DNA sample from the fingerprint has been progressed and whether there is sufficient to test it without destroying it.

“My advice from the experts was that scientific advances may improve some time in the future and DNA science may develop to enable testing without destroying it.

“I am unaware if this is still the case or a review and test have taken place and if so what the result was. Certainly up to two to three years ago this had not taken place.”

Dectectives are in a race against time to complete the investigation before the prime suspect John Cannan has his parole hearing in September.

Convicted rapist and kidnapper Cannan, 69, is making a bid for freedom after completing the minimum term of his three life sentences for the murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol in 1987.

Cannan, who has suffered a stroke, was gravely ill last year but has improved and it is understood he is no longer being treated on the medical wing of Full Sutton jail in East Yorkshire. If his bid for a move to open conditions is successful, it would pave the way for his release in around two years.