Lord Lucan

The disappearance of Lord Lucan is one of England’s most enduring mysteries. Richard John Bingham, 7^th Earl of Lucan, most commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder. He has never been found and was declared legally dead in 1999, allowing for his titles to be passed to his son, George.

Early life

Lord Lucan was born on 18^th December 1934 in Marylebone London, the second child and eldest son of George Bingham, 6^th Earl of Lucan and his wife, Kaitlin Dawson. He was initially cared for by the family nurse maid due to his mother being ill throughout his childhood before heading to prep school. He, along with this sister, were evacuated to Wales in 1939 due to the incoming preparations for WWII.

Shortly after relocating to Wales, the family were moved to Canada and then New York, where Lucan and his sister were educated before returning to England. He then attended Eton where he developed a taste for gambling and would later join the army as part of the nation's National Service, leaving in 1954. During his youth, while working at a bank, Lucan was considered for the role of James Bond, which was about to get a film adaptation, due to his penchant for luxury clothing, Aston Martin cars and expensive tastes.

Marriage

Lucan met Veronica Duncan in the early sixties. The two married in November 1963 in Brompton, London with royalty and other members of high society attending the wedding. Despite being in some debt due to his gambling habit, Lucan’s father gave him a large marriage settlement which allowed him to repay his creditors and purchase 46 Lower Belgrave Street, in Belgravia, London.

Two months after the wedding, Lord Lucan’s father died, allowing him to acquire his titles and a vast inheritance.

Lucan and Veronica went on to have three children, Lady Frances Bingham; George Bingham, 8^th Earl of Lucan and Lady Camilla Bingham. Following the birth of their first daughter, the couple employed a nanny. Veronica was known to have suffered from post natal depression and this, along with money worries thanks to Lucan’s gambling took a toll on the marriage. In 1972, Lucan moved out of the house and the pair announced their separation.

Despite an early attempt at reconciliation, the marriage was well and truly over by the beginning of the seventies and Lucan was desperate for sole custody of the children. In an effort to prove that Veronica was unfit, he began to spy on the family, including employing private detectives and attempting to find doctors who would back his claims.

A bitter custody battle ensued, and the following year, Lucan forcibly removed the children from his wife's care. A judge ordered that they be returned and Lucan was allowed supervised access every other weekend. The court required that Veronica hire a live in nanny and so Sandra Rivett began working for the family in 1974.

Sandra Rivett and her murder

Sandra Rivett was born on 16^th September 1945. When she began working for the Lucans, she had been recently divorced and had worked a number of jobs, including several domestic ones.

On the day of the murder, Sandra would have normally been out with her boyfriend, but changed her night off, meaning that she was home. She put the younger children to bed at around 8.55pm and then went to the kitchen to make Veronica a cup of tea. As she entered the room, she was bludgeoned to death with a lead pipe wrapped in a bandage, she was then placed in a canvas mailbag. Expecting a cup of tea, Veronica went looking for her and was herself attacked. 

Veronica reported that she spoke to her attacker, who told her to shut up before forcing her to the floor.  She would later claim that the assailant was her husband. Veronica asked the attacker where Sandra was and he admitted to having killed her, Veronica told him she would help him escape if only he allowed for her injuries to heal. At this point, she says Lucan went upstairs and sent his oldest daughter to bed before going to the bedroom he had previously shared with his wife. Veronica used his distraction to escape, running to a nearby pub, the Plumbers Arms.
Whether Lucan was the purpetrator or not, it is known that he called his mother at around 10.30pm, presumably from the Belgravia house, asking her to pick up the children because of a "terrible catastrophe" in which he claimed that he had witnessed someone attacking Veronica.  Veronica had also notified the people in the pub and the police were called, they arrived at the home in Belgravia and discovered Sandra's body,  Veronica was escorted to hospital.
The last known sighting of Lucan was in Sussex. Following the call to his mother, he drove to the county, visited several family friends and wrote some letters which he left there to be posted.

The aftermath

The police investigation found that there was no forced entry at the house. A number of blood stains were discovered, including in the garden. Police also searched the home that Lucan had been staying in since the separation but found nothing untoward, his passport, wallet, car keys, driving licence, money and glasses were all in the house and his usual car parked outside with a flat battery. Knowing that he had asked his mother to collect the children, they spoke to Lord Lucan's mother too and found that she had received another call from him at around 12.30am, in that call, he said he hadn't spoken to the police, but would be contacting them later. The friends he visited were also questioned and handed over the letters he had left with them, as some of them had bloodstains on.  

Police kept an open mind in the early days of the investigation, interviewing several men known to Rivett, all of whom were eliminated. As Lucan never made contact, his description was circulated to the press and other police forces, in the hope that he would present himself for questioning. 

Some months later, on 10th November, the car that Lucan had been driving that day was discovered in Newhaven, close to where he was last seen visiting his friends. The car had been borrowed, and Lucan had sent the owner a letter but it had been thrown away prior to the police making contact. Though the letters contents were relayed, no one was able to determine where the letter had been sent from or on what date. Police searches of the car foun a piece of lead pipe covered in surgical tape in the boot and a bottle of vodka. Studies of the pipe found that there was no blood or hair on it, so it could not be connected to the murder. The letters left by Lucan however did have blood from both Sandra Rivett and Veronica. A warrant was issued for Lucan's arrest shortly after the discovery of the car.  An inquest would later rule that Lucan was the perpetrator of the murder and he became the first member of the House of lords to be named a murderer since 1760.

The last confirmed sighting of Lord Lucan was at about 1am in the morning on 8^th November 1974 as he left his friend’s home in a Ford car he had borrowed. He has not been seen or heard from since with many speculating that he had committed suicide. Others however maintain that he managed to leave the country and had been living abroad for some time. He was legally declared dead in 2020 and to this day, no one has been charged in connection with Sandra Rivett’s death.

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