Twenty-six-year-old Sandra Court was a popular, friendly young woman who had been working as an insurance clerk at Ambassador Life in Bournemouth, England. She had just announced that she would be leaving that job, however, and taking a position as a nanny in Mallorca, Spain, a life change she was tremendously excited about.
On May 2nd, 1986, Sandra and her friends and co-workers spent the evening celebrating her departure, visiting several different establishments before ending the night at a nightclub called Steppes on St. Swithun’s Road in Bournemouth.
At the end of the night, Sandra was a little bit drunk and called a taxi to drive her to her sister’s house on Downton Close. The cab driver dropped her off at a little past three a.m. on May 3rd, but Sandra’s sister was not at home. Sandra told the taxi driver that she would just wait outside, and the driver left. This was the last time anyone but her killer saw Sandra alive.
The following morning, a group of teenagers discovered Sandra’s fully clothed body lying in a ditch full of water beside the Avon Causeway. She had been strangled.
Ten days later, an anonymous letter arrived at the police station in Southampton, claiming responsibility for the murder but insisting it was an accident and that he was “truly sorry.”
A potential suspect wouldn’t come to the fore until years later, and even now, the suspect’s involvement is somewhat uncertain. Serial rapist and suspected serial killer John Cannan was convicted in 1988 for killing twenty-nine-year-old Shirley Banks in Bristol in October of 1987, as well as a slew of other sexual crimes and attempted abductions. Cannan was also the prime suspect in the disappearance of twenty-five-year-old real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in 1986.
Cannan’s handwriting was very similar to the writing on the anonymous letter sent to police in the Sandra Court case, and a paid parking stub placed him in Bournemouth at the time of the murder. In addition, the vehicle Cannan was driving at the time—a red Ford Sierra—was later found at a scrapyard and contained two hairs whose DNA was matched to Sandra’s.
Cannan was questioned in 2001 about the Sandra Court murder but denied even being in Bournemouth at the time. Despite the DNA, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Cannan with the crime. He is currently serving a life sentence at HM Prison Sutton.
Though John Cannan is still the main suspect in the slaying of Sandra Court, her case stands as officially unsolved as of September 2024.
Crime Immemorial 