Convicted killer John Cannan, who has been questioned by police over the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, today brought unsuccessful High Court proceedings against the prison authorities over access to private telephone facilities to contact his lawyers.

Cannan, 46, who is serving life for the murder of Bristol sales manager Shirley Banks and a series of sex attacks on other women, was present in the dock at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London for the hearing.

Flanked by security officers, Cannan listened intently as his QC, Graeme Williams, told Mr Justice Newman that the case related to "his access to a telephone to speak in conditions of confidentiality to his solicitors when required to do so urgently".

Mr Williams told the judge that Cannan - who says he has been the subject of "highly prejudicial speculation" in relation to the Suzy Lamplugh case - believed his rights at Full Sutton Prison in Yorkshire were being "infringed".

He said Cannan was concerned that if he was only able to make calls to his lawyers from wing telephones he would not be able to make such calls in confidence.

But, after hearing submissions on Cannan's behalf and from counsel for the Home Secretary and the prison governor, the judge dismissed his application for permission to apply for a judicial review. The judge said prisoners at Full Sutton can apply to the governor or another appropriate officer for permission to make a call in private.

It would then be incumbent on the prison authorities to exercise their discretion in deciding whether or not the matter was so pressing that this facility should be accorded to the prisoner.

He said he had been informed that in the event of permission being granted at Full Sutton "then there can be accorded to the prisoner the degree of privacy which would be available from a private telephone".

Cannan's particular complaint, he said, was that having regard to the "extensive public scrutiny" to which his past was subjected "there arises from time to time highly sensitive and highly urgent occasions upon which he desires to communicate with his solicitors", but feels unable to do so.

However, Mr Justice Newman said he was satisfied that the system provided, with the landing telephones and the "added back up" of being able to make a special application, were sufficient to meet the protection of rights of Cannan and other prisoners.

Cannan was jailed for life at Exeter Crown Court in 1989. A document before the court today stated that he pleaded not guilty at the time and continued to deny guilt.

Suzy Lamplugh, 25, went missing in July 1986 after leaving her office to show a client, known as Mr Kipper, around a house in Fulham, south-west London. Cannan has always denied any involvement in her disappearance.