Instead, according to the prosecution case against Cannan, he drove her to a wooded valley known as Dead Woman’s Ditch in the Quantocks, Somerset, where he murdered 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 murder in December 1987.

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 in the Leigh Woods apartment Cannan was living in 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 sexual offenses and attempted kidnapping relating to incidents involving other women.

He was sentenced to life in prison in 1989.

In October 2023, a parole board ruled that Cannan was too dangerous to be released, with the panel hearing how he had always insisted on his innocence and had not engaged in any programs to reduce his risk of reoffending.