What Happened to Lord Lucan?

Richard John Bingham, Baron Bingham, Baron Lucan, Baronet Bingham of Castlebar, the 7th Earl of Lucan, Lucky Lucan, the Notorious RJB — how many titles does one man need? How about “Best Moustache 1974”? That one may be invented, although this man was certainly a candidate. If some of these are ringing bells, then yes, they all refer to one person who today is most popularly referred to as “Lord Lucan.” And it seems that he did add one more title to his roster — that of murderer.

As may be guessed from his many titles, he was a British aristocrat who made global headlines when, in 1974, he disappeared into thin air after the brutal murder of his children’s nanny. But how involved was he in the killing and what might have happened to him in the aftermath? Could he even still be alive? This story does contain details of a murder and also talks about suicide later on.

Let’s take a dive into the story that scandalized and fascinated the British public and still makes occasional headlines to this day.

Some Background

Born into the wealthy Bingham family in 1934, Richard John Bingham was set up for success. From here on, he will be referred to as “Lord Lucan” or “Lucan” as that’s how he’s known in popular culture. He didn’t inherit the title until his father died in 1964. It’s basically going to be him all the time. Lucan is an area in Ireland and the Earl of Lucan is a title that’s been recognized legally since 1795.

He was the eldest son, although not the eldest child, of an Irish peer so was in line to inherit his father’s titles and his seat in the House of Lords. Lucan went to school at Eton. While at college he started gambling and became a bookie for the other students.

He made quite good money with this side hustle but according to his mother, his grades were “far from creditable.” Still, that doesn’t really seem to matter if you come from the British upper class. The only other notable detail was that he was good at racing speedboats.

After finishing at Eton in 1953, he did his National Service stint in the army which was still a requirement for physically fit males at the time. While he was in Germany in the Coldstream Guards, he diversified his gambling portfolio by playing lots of poker. After the Army, he was a merchant banker for a few years but his true passion was definitely gambling.

He won big but also lost big.

He fell in with a set of other rich gamblers and in 1960 he won £26,000 playing a version of the card game Baccarat known as “chemin de fer.” According to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, this was about £612,350 in 2020 pounds or around $841,000 in 2020 dollars. A pretty good pot, and it was one of the main reasons Lucan then quit his job at the bank to become a “professional gambler” which basically means an obnoxious playboy.

In 1962, zoo-owning gambling-lover John Aspinall founded the exclusive Clermont Club, London’s first casino, in fashionable Mayfair. Lucan was a frequent visitor to the Clermont Club where he was in the company of many other people with hereditary titles and also big names like actor Peter Sellars and James Bond creator, Ian Fleming. In fact, it’s been said that Lucan was approached to play the iconic English spy even though he had zero acting experience.

He was living the Bond life, though, with his jet-setting lifestyle, love of Aston Martins and the aforementioned speedboats. Chemin de fer was also Bond’s preferred card game in the books and was shown in several of the films. Lucan and Bond both also enjoyed the vodka martinis and as a tall, good-looking and charismatic man, Lucan definitely looked the part, although with the addition of his famous ‘tache.

In his career as a professional gambler, Lucan wasn’t really that great. He was known as “Lucky Lucan” after his original big win but it turned out to be pretty ironic. He was extremely good at backgammon and even won tournaments including a championship in America but in total he lost far more than he won. The nickname stuck, though, and it’s not a bad nickname to have, better than “Loser Lucan” I suppose.

In 1963, Lucan met Veronica Duncan, an art-college graduate, model and secretary. The two hit it off and got married later the same year. Lucan was going through a bit of a bad patch in his gambling results at the time so it was pretty convenient as his father gave him a whole bunch of money to basically start off his own family.

Lucan bought 46 Lower Belgrave Street and the couple had three children over the next 6 years. Also adding a nice bump to Lucan’s finances was the fact that his father, the 6th Earl of Lucan, had died shortly after the wedding, leaving the now 7th Earl of Lucan with an inheritance of around £250,000 which in today’s money is over £5 million or over $7 million.

All was not rosy in the land of the Lucans, though. Lord Lucan spent a lot of his time at the Clermont Club, gambling away his family’s money. His wife Veronica, now the Countess of Lucan, had been badly affected by postnatal depression and her mental condition supposedly alarmed Lucan.

Sources vary on whether he tried to have her committed or just sought out psychiatric treatment for her but either way she refused to stay in any kind of clinic and was not forced to go. Their relationship deteriorated with Veronica increasingly relying on nannies to help look after her children and Lucan spending all his time losing at his club.

In 1972, the couple separated with Lucan moving out. While a lot of emphasis has been put on the state of his wife’s mental health at this point, it seems that he too had gone into something of a mental decline. He was dead set on getting custody of his children to the point of hiring private investigators and spying on his family himself from his car on the street.

In trying to prove Veronica was not capable of looking after the children, though, Lucan totally shot himself in the foot and instead proved his behaviour was unwarranted and a bit weird. Veronica was awarded custody of their three children with Lucan having visitation rights every other weekend. This was a huge blow to Lucan who really did love his children.

His family now taken from him coupled with his gambling woes led to even bigger money issues as Lucan had lost a lot of money on the court case and still had to pay towards his family’s expenses. As well as living in one of the priciest areas in the country, they were used to things like regular food orders from Harrod’s and Veronica shopped for clothes on Savile Row.

Due to being diagnosed with depression and anxiety, it was ruled that Veronica had to have a nanny to help her look after the children, a decision that rankled with Lucan and he tried his hardest to interfere with the process. Several nannies came and went through the Lucan household, some reporting that they’d had disturbing anonymous phone calls and others being investigated by private investigators again. Lucan even tried to get information about his wife out of one of them but it didn’t do him any good.

Eventually, in 1974, Sandra Rivett joined the Lucan family as their nanny. Recently divorced from her husband and the mother of a boy who had been adopted shortly after birth, Sandra used to take Thursdays off to see her new boyfriend. Meanwhile, friends began to become concerned about Lucan’s apparent obsession with his children, his increase in drinking and the huge amounts of money he was regularly losing.

He is even remembered as saying things like he could murder his wife and put an end to all his financial worries. On the 7th of November 1974, all these things came to a head.

The Murder

We are now entering the sensational realm of a murder that has kept the public’s attention for over 45 years. We’ll start with the events, then talk a bit about how much we actually know.

On the night of Thursday, November the 7th, 1974, Lord Lucan’s estranged wife, Veronica, was at their home on Lower Belgrave Street with their three children and the nanny, Sandra Rivett. As noted, Sandra used to have Thursdays off to see her boyfriend but unfortunately for her, this particular week she had seen him on the Wednesday instead so was at work when she normally wouldn’t have been. Just before 9pm, after some of the Lucan children were in bed, Sandra Rivett asked Veronica if she wanted a cup of tea.

The layout of 46 Lower Belgrave Street meant that the kitchen was in the basement of the house so Sandra Rivett went downstairs to make the tea. It was very dark and the light going down to the kitchen didn’t work. Sandra probably thought the bulb had blown but it was later discovered that it had been removed.

As she reached the dark basement, Sandra was attacked by a man wielding a lead pipe. Beaten brutally around the head, she suffered major trauma and choked to death on her own blood. After the savage attack, her body was stuffed into a large mail sack that happened to be lying around.

She was 29 years old.

Not having realised there was an intruder in the house, Veronica came to the top of the stairs to see what was taking Sandra so long. As she started coming down, a man rushed up and hit her several times with the pipe. After fighting with him, she grabbed his testicles and managed to make her escape. Rushing into the nearby Plumbers Arms — that’s the name of a pub — a bloodied Veronica screamed “Help me, I’ve just escaped from being murdered … My children, my children, he’s murdered my nanny!”

By the time police arrived, the attacker had long since scarpered, leaving the Lucan children unhurt.

A few hours later, Lord Lucan turned up at his friend’s house, the Maxwell Scotts. He told Susan Maxwell Scott that he had seen his wife being attacked and rushed in to help. Lady Lucan had told him the nanny was dead and then accused him of orchestrating the attack. In a panic, Lucan had fled the house and driven to the Maxwell Scotts.

He wrote some letters and called his mother to ask her to pick up the children after there had been “a terrible catastrophe” at Lower Belgrave Street. According to Susan Maxwell Scott, he was in shock but composed. After he left her house, in the early hours of the 8th of November 1974, he was never seen again.

Why it had to be Lucan

The fact that he ran and disappeared immediately after the murder and attack points the finger of blame squarely at Lord Lucan. There is a tiny bit of wiggle room that he might not have been the actual hand to wield the murder weapon which we’ll go into in a bit but it’s generally agreed upon that he was the murderer.

The main witness is, of course, Lady Lucan. She testified that she recognized her husband’s voice telling her to “shut up” as they fought in the dark on the stairs. Then, after having given his grapes a good old squeezing, the fight had gone out of him and she had actually managed to get him to go upstairs to start cleaning himself up.

He told her he had killed the nanny and she said she would help him escape but they’d both need to lay low for a few days while the injuries she’d sustained healed up a bit. While he was upstairs getting towels and possibly taking some of her sedatives, she took her chance and ran out for help. In this version, it’s fair to say that Lady Lucan would have been pretty hard-pressed to mistake the person who admitted to the murder to be anyone other than her estranged husband.

One of his children also confirms that she saw him at the house that night and in his letters to his brother-in-law, Lucan even placed himself at the house that night.

After his wife raised the alarm, Lucan quickly left and drove to the Maxwell Scott house in Sussex, 68 km (42 miles) away. In a strong point against him, Lucan was driving not his own Mercedes, but a Ford Corsair he had borrowed from a friend a couple of weeks earlier. Why had he borrowed this particular car? His friend had offered him a more luxurious ride but Lucan had chosen this one and the only real conclusion that can be drawn is that he was using it to spy on his family incognito.

Was it already planned to be a getaway vehicle several weeks before the murder? Speculation. His Mercedes was found after his disappearance and the battery was flat so maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to replace it and was using someone else’s car instead but it sure doesn’t look good.

The Ford Corsair was found a couple of days later on the 11th of November at the port of Newhaven in East Sussex. In the car was a lead pipe and a bottle of vodka. Blood found in the car was thought to be a match to both Sandra Rivett and Lady Lucan although the lead piping was not the murder weapon as this was left at the scene. From the port there is a railway station and also regular ferries that cross the Channel to France so it’s quite a good base to start if you’re thinking of running from the police.

The general consensus of this case has been that, due to the lack of any evidence suggesting anything else, Lucan broke into his old family home, or still had a key, removed the light bulb and waited for Veronica in the dark. When Sandra, whom he had not been expecting to be at the house, came downstairs, he attacked her thinking it was his estranged wife. After trying to cover up the killing, he attacked his wife on the way out but after she managed to fight back, he gave it up as a bad job.

Whether he was intending to attack her again later that night is up for debate but she stymied that plan anyway by escaping the house. Lucan then disappeared to avoid being tried for the murder. In his absence, an inquest was still held and in 1975 he was formally declared guilty of the murder of Sandra Rivett, making him the first Lord to be convicted of murder since 1760.

The murder and disappearance understandably caused a sensation in the media with The Sun’s rather subdued “Earl Sought in Death Mystery” versus the Daily Mail’s “Dawn Hunt for Lucan’s Body.” The New York Times was keeping the story alive in 1979 with “Missing Lord Lucan: Worldwide Enigma” and sightings popped up all over the world. According to Lady Lucan, he had been violent with her when they had lived together, including hitting her with a cane wrapped in sticking plaster. The lead pipe at the murder scene and the one found in the abandoned car had both been wrapped in a similar material. It seemed pretty cut and dried that Lucan was the sole perpetrator of the crimes and had somehow managed to flee from justice. But was that the only story? Not quite.

Why it might not have been Lucan

Well OK, we all know it was him. But was it physically his hand on the murder weapon? Let’s look at his side of the story for a moment. Just a moment, though — don’t want to inject too much doubt into the story after all this time.

We know Lucan’s explanation for the bloody events because he wrote three letters after the murder and also called his mother. It also did not seem to occur to his friend Susan Maxwell Scott that he was telling anything other than the truth as she didn’t call the police or think he was acting in a manner that suggested he just brutally attacked two women. At Susan Maxwell Scott’s house, Lucan wrote two letters to his friend and brother-in-law William Shand Kydd. One detailed how to sort out his various financial situations due to a sale of something that was coming up.

The last line was “The other creditors can get lost for the time being.” It was signed, rather poignantly, “Lucky.” His other letter went into a bit more detail about what had happened at his former family home.

In case you’re not familiar with a phrase that crops up twice, “to lie doggo” means to keep your head down and lie low. Here’s the letter from Lucan to his friend, dated 7th November 1974:

Dear Bill, The most ghastly circumstances arose tonight which I briefly described to my mother. When I interrupted the fight at Lower Belgrave St. and the man left, Veronica accused me of having hired him. I took her upstairs and sent Frances up to bed and tried to clean her up.

She lay doggo for a bit and when I was in the bathroom left the house. The circumstantial evidence against me is strong in that V will say it was all my doing. I will also lie doggo for a bit but I am only concerned for the children.

If you can manage it I want them to live with you – Coutts (Trustees) St Martins Lane (Mr Wall) will handle school fees. V. has demonstrated her hatred for me in the past and would do anything to see me accused. For George and Frances to go through life knowing their father had stood in the dock for attempted murder would be too much.

When they are old enough to understand, explain to them the dream of paranoia, and look after them. Yours ever John

As can be seen, Lucan’s story was that he was just passing by, as one does when one has constantly been staking out one’s estranged family for months, and saw his wife being attacked by an intruder. He let himself into the house and saved Veronica from the other man. He told Susan Maxwell Scott that he also slipped in some blood at this point. His story then matches his wife’s in that they went upstairs to clean up and she left the house.

The major difference obviously being that in her version of events it was him that attacked her. Maybe, if you squint, there is the smallest possibility that it was not Lucan who carried out the attack and that in the dark, his wife then assumed he was the attacker after the actual attacker fled. Or as per his letter, she hated him so much that she would pin it on him anyway, even knowing it wasn’t him. This is a thread worth pulling if only a little.

Veronica Lucan is something of an unreliable narrator. The major facts of the attack and Lucan’s confession come from only one source — Veronica Lucan. After running for help to the pub, she was coherent enough to speak in sentences to get her message across but never said her husband was the villain.

That can be put down to shock and fear but it would have been useful to tell people you knew who the murderer was straight away. She’d also sustained several blows to the head so might have been confused and lost some time due to passing out. She also told police that she recognized his voice while they were fighting on the stairs but if they then spent significant time together trying to clean up while she pretended she’d help him, surely she would have known it was him and recognizing his voice is kind of not really relevant as she was seeing him with her own eyes and he admits being there.

The main side theory is that, as Lucan wrote in his letter, he hired someone to kill his wife. The nanny was a mistake and maybe, if he was peering in to spy on proceedings, Lucan realised that it wasn’t his wife who had gone downstairs first or actually had a change of heart and burst in to stop the attack. Even though he was in a hole financially and personally, Lucan was still a member of the British elite.

Would he really have gone so far as to wait in the dark with a pipe to off his wife when he could pay someone else to do it? He managed to tie himself to the murder anyway by leaving in a car which had an almost identical lead pipe in it and blood which was matched to both women. This was the 70s so DNA proof was not available but the blood groups found apparently matched Sandra Rivett and Veronica Lucan.

If it wasn’t their blood, it was the most enormous of coincidences.

Speaking of coincidences, what of that third letter Lucan wrote? It was to his friend Michael Stoop, he of the Ford Corsair Lucan was driving when the murder occurred. Here’s what it said:

My Dear Michael, I have had a traumatic night of unbelievable coincidence. However I won’t bore you with anything or involve you except to say that when you come across my children, which I hope you will, please tell them that you knew me and that all I cared about was them. The fact that a crooked solicitor and a rotten psychiatrist destroyed me between them will be of no importance to the children.

I gave Bill Shand Kydd an account of what actually happened but judging by my last effort in court no-one, let alone a 67 year old judge – would believe – and I no longer care except that my children should be protected. Yours ever, John

In both letters to his friends, Lucan is very preoccupied with what his children will think of him and that they’re looked after. He makes no admissions of guilt and doesn’t give any hint as to what his next moves or overall plans are, or even if he has a plan. Michael Stoop read his letter as a suicide note, especially given the phrase “I no longer care”.

Lucan’s letter to William Shand Kydd also seems like it’s a final goodbye given the last line of “When they are old enough to understand, explain to them the dream of paranoia, and look after them”. Whether he was directly involved, or indirectly involved, the fact that Lucan disappeared rather than going to the police is a very strong indication of guilt.

There is, however, the faintest whiff of another man who could have been in the house and may have been totally unconnected to Lucan. Lucan’s sister gave a statement to police in 1974 saying that the Lord’s young daughters had mentioned a “boyfriend” who stayed at the house. No names were forthcoming but as the girls had mentioned that the man sometimes stayed in the nanny’s room and she stayed with them when he did, it seems unlikely that he was Rivett’s boyfriend.

Also, Rivett hadn’t been working for the Lucans for very long at the time so it might have been a bit early for her to have guests staying over. Plus, it wouldn’t really be very professional. So was it this man, possibly a boyfriend of Veronica Lucan’s, who had carried out the attack?

Maybe he had meant to kill Sandra Rivett after all. And after Veronica was attacked, maybe she momentarily blacked out and came around as Lucan entered and just assumed it had been him the whole time. Lucan, knowing this would look bad for him whatever happened, took his chances and left the scene.

His fingerprints weren’t found on the weapon or in the basement but this doesn’t mean much as he puts himself at the scene of the crime anyway. There didn’t appear to be any easy way to exit the house apart from the front door and no witnesses came forward with sightings of this other man. There were no sightings of Lucan leaving the house either, though, so anybody could have slipped out.

Sandra Rivett’s blood was found in the back garden of the house which is a bit weird but the garden was walled and it was deemed that nobody likely escaped from there. Lucan would have known about the wall so is it likely that he was the one who went outside? It could have been accidental transfer during the police investigation or maybe a third party, hired by Lucan or not, was involved.

This mystery man angle was never brought up at the inquest so who knows whether Lucan was actually telling the truth? He probably wasn’t though.

After the Murder — Theories

We’ve talked about the murder, now let’s get on to the next mystery part of the story. What happened to Lord Lucan? There are two theories here. Either he killed himself almost immediately after driving to Newhaven or he managed to escape and went into perfect hiding for an unknown and possibly still ongoing period of time.

Let’s talk about the suicide theory first. Supposing that Lord Lucan had been the perpetrator or instigator of the murder, knowing that it had been completely ballsed up put him in an awkward position. The death penalty had already been abolished by this point but going to prison for murder would ruin his family name and it seemed that the last thing he wanted was for his children to see him as a murderer.

He had been drinking heavily in the months before the murder and while his friends at the time say his mood had lifted in the weeks immediately prior, who knows what his mental state actually was at the time? He might have thought that suicide would be the best resolution to the situation and put an end to things. If he did think that, he managed to balls that up too.

It’s not common for people who kill themselves to do it in such a way that they are never found. Drowning is probably one of the few ways where a body might never be recovered but it’s not a guarantee. It’s hard to think that Lucan would intentionally have meant for his body not to be found. There would be no closure in the case for his family or estate.

If he had planned the murder of his wife, it was to help with his financial and family issues and presumably if the plan had gone successfully, he would still be there to reap his ill-gotten benefits. What that means is that he would not have had a plan in place to kill himself and not be found. If he did jump in the Channel and got pulled out to sea or whatever, it would have been by chance.

One of his friends thought he had sailed a motorboat out into the Channel and jumped overboard. After changing her mind a couple of times, Lady Lucan eventually said that she thought he’d taken the ferry out of Newhaven and, deciding to end his life “like the nobleman he was”, jumped into the propellers of the ferry. John Aspinall also mentioned killing himself as a noble way out but to me, the noble thing to do after this sort of thing would be to turn yourself in, admit your guilt and face the consequences like an honorable chap.

Lucan had insomnia so took sleeping tablets as a matter of course. Wouldn’t you just load up on those and slip overboard if you were planning on offing yourself in that way? Who would consciously jump into a boat’s propellers?

And not a single trace of him has ever been found. If he got chopped up in the blades there would in theory be lots of traces to be found. This seems like a totally weird and unnecessary way to go.

The detective assigned to the case was Detective Chief Superintendent Roy Ranson. He initially also thought Lord Lucan had died by suicide but searches of the areas around Newhaven port yielded no results. Most of the searches have been described as “partial” though so it is possible that they missed things. Nonetheless, a warrant was issued for Lucan’s arrest on the 12th of November, 1974. In later years, even Ranson changed his mind and decided that Lucan had actually managed to escape.

So why do people think he fled? While he was no longer flush with cash, he still had means, ways and connected, influential and very rich friends. His gang at the Clermont Club were totally unhelpful to police investigators, earning them the nickname “the Eton mafia” and at least one friend publicly stated that even if he did know something, he wouldn’t tell the police anything. All of Lucan’s personal belongings like his passport, car keys and glasses were still at his flat so either that was a red herring to make people think he had killed himself or was still in the country, or he just fled with the clothes on his back or he had a second set of false ID papers stashed somewhere for just this occurrence.

It’s highly possible that he could ask someone to help him leave the country on a small private plane or boat as this was the time before mobile phones so news was not instantaneous. His friend Sandra Maxwell Scott had heard nothing of the murder when he turned up to her house that night and as he seemed to be compos mentis, she believed his version of events. He could easily have rushed into his club after the murder, told them he was in a pickle and then gone on to the Maxwell Scott’s while they got things set up for him.

We only have Sandra Maxwell Scott’s word for the time he arrived and left her house. Someone else could have picked him up or driven the Ford Corsair to Newhaven. His friends may not have known what had happened and so were fine with aiding and abetting as they didn’t know a murder rap was on the cards.

And after they did know, they didn’t want to get themselves into trouble so just kept quiet about helping him.

The media definitely tended towards escape rather than suicide with headlines like “Where did he go?” from the Mirror and many references like “sea hunt”, “port hunt” and “dawn hunt” cropping up all over the tabloids. Just the fact that neither hide nor a hair from his luxuriant moustache was ever seen again stoked the legend that he successfully evaded justice and has been living as a fugitive ever since.

Sightings

Now let’s get on to the fun part: the sightings. Almost as soon as he vanished, reports of Lucan were popping up all over the place. Obviously all of these have come to nothing but it seems that the world has been keeping a weather eye out for this nobleman for the last half a century. Sightings have been reported in France, Iceland, Goa, Australia, Botswana, Guatemala, Ireland, New Zealand — basically anytime someone saw a posh-sounding English man with a decent ‘tache he immediately became a suspect.

One of these sightings hilariously led to the identification of a different fugitive when police in Melbourne, Australia were alerted to the suspicious behavior of an Englishman visiting multiple banks in December 1974. When they caught up with the man, it turned out not to be their top suspect, Lord Lucan, but disgraced Labour MP John Stonehouse who had faked his own death in Miami that same year and had fled to Australia.

Another top suspect as the missing Lord for a while was someone who went by the name of “Jungle Barry”, a hippy beach bum living in Goa who died in 1996. A retired detective from Scotland Yard followed this lead and even co-published a book about his theory. Barry did bear some resemblance to Lucan, seemed to have a vast knowledge about sports cars, was a good backgammon player and only gave vague, shady answers about his past which was seemingly enough for people to conclude he was the missing Lord. When the book Dead Lucky was published, it was quickly established by English friends of the dead beach bum that he was, in fact, a folk singer called Barry Halpin. The author, Duncan MacLaughlin, and his publishers quickly changed tack to suggest that Lucan took on Barry’s identity but the case just fell apart from there. It just goes to show that people are willing to believe pretty much anything.

When another suspect was outed in New Zealand in 2007, the fact that he was English, had a moustache and was living in a 1974 Land Rover seemed to trump the fact that not only was he around a decade younger than Lucan would have been, he was also almost half a foot shorter. There’s some things about your appearance you can easily change but your height is not really one of them.

Lucan’s brother thought he had probably fled to Africa and friends such as Susan Maxwell Scott also maintained that he was probably still alive.

The son of Sandra Rivett, who was adopted as a baby, only found out she was his birth mother in 2007. Neil Berriman has since become deeply entrenched in the case and was given access to the notes, diaries and case files of another detective on the case, David Gerring, after his death in 2004. This has led Berriman to believe that Lucan is still alive but in increasingly bad health and living in Australia.

An investigation by police as recently as July 2021, however, came to the conclusion that the elderly man was not the missing Lucan. Berriman declared that the police didn’t carry out a very detailed investigation with no DNA tests etc. and he is still convinced this man is the murderer of his mother. If you take a look at his website, LordLucanTheTruth.com, there is a side by side picture of 1970s Lucan and the alleged modern-day Lucan.

To me, they are not the same person. Sure, he could have had some cosmetic surgery but really, the similarity does not jump out. So, the mystery rolls on.

Having disappeared at the age of 39, if he did escape, Lord Lucan would be 87 this year.

Aftermath

Lucan was not officially declared dead until 1999 meaning that he was still Lord Lucan all that time and his family could not inherit any of his titles or properties. His son, George Bingham, didn’t inherit the title of 8th Earl of Lucan until the death certificate had been issued in 2016. His children have been largely vague over their father’s actions and possible fate but that’s only to be expected when the only reason the media wants to talk to you is about something your dad did when you were still in primary school.

Veronica Lucan continued to live in the house on Lower Belgrave Street. Her relationship with her children deteriorated, leading them to be looked after by her sister and her husband, William Shand Kydd in 1982 and by adulthood, they were all completely estranged from her. She killed herself in 2017 with a cocktail of drugs after becoming convinced she had Parkinson’s disease although this was self-diagnosed rather than confirmed by a doctor.

She still kept a portrait of Lucan and some of his gambling trophies in her living room and interviews she gave over the years seemed to belie some sort of grudging lingering respect for the man who’d tried to kill her. She also said that the reason it took so long to declare him dead was to avoid paying death duties which would have prevented her from affording the fees for her children’s education.

Whatever actually happened, the fate of the missing aristocrat far outweighed the interest in the dead Sandra Rivett which is why her son is still trying to bring Lucan to justice all these years later. Lucan won’t out himself as he’s a convicted murderer so would just be arrested straight away. Unless DNA testing provides an answer in the future, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever find out what really happened to Lord Lucan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Lord Lucan?

Lord Lucan, whose full name was Richard John Bingham, was a British aristocrat known for his disappearance after the murder of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, in 1974. He held multiple titles, including the 7th Earl of Lucan.

What was Lord Lucan’s background?

Lord Lucan was born into the wealthy Bingham family in 1934. He attended Eton, served in the army, and became a professional gambler. He married Veronica Duncan in 1963, and they had three children. Lucan was known for his extravagant lifestyle and gambling habits.

What happened on the night of November 7, 1974?

On the night of November 7, 1974, Lord Lucan’s estranged wife, Veronica, was at their home with their children and the nanny, Sandra Rivett. Sandra was attacked and killed by a man wielding a lead pipe. Veronica was also attacked but managed to escape and seek help. Lucan disappeared shortly after the incident.

Why was Lord Lucan considered the prime suspect in the murder?

Lord Lucan was considered the prime suspect because he disappeared immediately after the murder and attack. His estranged wife, Veronica, identified him as the attacker, and his behavior and actions leading up to the incident pointed to his involvement.

What are the main theories about what happened to Lord Lucan after the murder?

The main theories are that Lord Lucan either committed suicide shortly after the murder or managed to escape and go into hiding. Some believe he fled the country with the help of his wealthy and influential friends.

Were there any sightings of Lord Lucan after his disappearance?

Yes, there have been numerous sightings of Lord Lucan reported over the years in various countries, including France, Australia, and New Zealand. However, none of these sightings have been confirmed, and many have been debunked.

What happened to Veronica Lucan after her husband’s disappearance?

Veronica Lucan continued to live in the family home on Lower Belgrave Street. Her relationship with her children deteriorated, and they were eventually looked after by her sister and brother-in-law. Veronica committed suicide in 2017.

What was the outcome of the inquest into Sandra Rivett’s murder?

In 1975, Lord Lucan was formally declared guilty of the murder of Sandra Rivett in his absence, making him the first Lord to be convicted of murder since 1760.

What happened to Lord Lucan’s titles and properties after his disappearance?

Lord Lucan was not officially declared dead until 1999, meaning his family could not inherit his titles or properties until then. His son, George Bingham, inherited the title of 8th Earl of Lucan in 2016.

What is the current status of the investigation into Lord Lucan’s disappearance?

As of the latest information, the investigation into Lord Lucan’s disappearance remains unsolved. DNA testing and other modern forensic methods may provide answers in the future, but it is unlikely that the mystery will be fully resolved without new evidence.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: What Happened to Lord Lucan?
• Hero image source by Tawhid Sadman / openverse, cc0.