The 13-year hunt for missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh may finally be drawing to a close as it has been reported that her body is buried in a disused army barracks in Norton, Worcestershire.
Scotland Yard was last night assessing whether to begin excavation at the site.
Ms Lamplugh disappeared in July 1986 after leaving her Fulham office to show a client a local property.
Her car was subsequently found close to the property, but Ms Lamplugh was never seen again, despite a huge nation-wide hunt.
The new information, which was given to the Lamplugh family by an undisclosed source five weeks ago, is said to corroborate other information they received at an earlier date.
A former girlfriend of convicted killer John Cannan (45) is also reported to have said that he confessed to raping and murdering Ms Lamplugh and burying her in Worcestershire.
Cannan had been released from Wormwood Scrubs prison - where he served six years for rape - three days before Ms Lamplugh's disappearance. He was later found guilty of the abduction and murder of sales manager Shirley Banks (29) in 1987.
Cannan was also reported to have used the alias "Kipper" while in prison.
The client Ms Lamplugh had gone to meet on July 28th, 1986, had used the name Mr Kipper and she was last seen getting into his black BMW saloon.
It is reported that Cannan had access to such a vehicle at the time of her disappearance.
The missing estate agent's mother, Ms Diana Lamplugh (63) spoke yesterday of the relief that finding her daughter would bring to her husband Paul (68) and their other three children.
"We have reason to believe that it [the new information] is genuine. It certainly could not have been made up . . . This is the closest we have been to finding my daughter. It would be lovely, just lovely to find her."
She said: "We have got to be ready for the fact that her body might be found at any time. She now has no problem, she is not in pain, but we miss her enormously and it would be marvellous to be able to bury her and feel she was at rest."
Ms Lamplugh added that she still hoped her daughter's killer could be identified, if only to prevent him striking again. Cannan has repeatedly denied any involvement in the estate agent's disappearance.
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which was set up by Diana Lamplugh six months after her daughter's disappearance, has since become the leading personal safety charity in Great Britain.
Should Ms Lamplugh's body be found, the discovery will mark the end of one of Britain's longest and most vigorously pursued police investigations, which took officers to Greece, Saudi Arabia and Belgium.