Lord
Lucan 'killed himself hours after murdering family nanny', new
witness claims
Theories
have abounded for four decades about Lord Lucan's disappearance
Alexandra Sims / The
Independent / 9-12-2015
The mystery
surrounding Lord Lucan's whereabouts, which has abounded ever since
his blood-splattered car was found abandoned in 1974, may have come
to an end after a new witness has alleged the peer killed himself
hours after murdering his family’s nanny.
During a hearing at
the High Court on Tuesday, it was claimed a member of Lord Lucan’s
gambling set said the peer killed himself after murdering Sandra
Rivett at his family home in Belgravia on 7 November 1974.
Theories have
abounded for decades about the Lord’s disappearance, who was last
seen in the early hours of Friday 8 November, 16 miles away from
where his car was found in Newhaven, Sussex.
Speculation that
Lord Richard John Bingham successfully fled abroad, evading capture
for the murder, has been rife; while alleged sightings in Australia,
Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand have elevated the peer to
myth-like status.
The fresh claims
emerged during a procedural hearing determining whether a death
certificate should be issued for Lord Lucan so his son George
Bingham, 48, may inherit his father’s title, becoming the Eighth
Earle of Lucan.
Author Ian Crosby,
who has undertaken extensive research into the peer’s
disappearance, told the court that among hundreds of emails he had
received about the case, one – from a man who frequented Lucan’s
old haunt the Clermont Club – merited investigation.
Mr Crosby, who also
goes by the name David Vann, said: “It appears he might have some
information and it may transpire that Lord Lucan actually killed
himself on the morning of Friday November 8 1974.”
Mr Crosby, told The
Telegraph: “He says in the email it was all over by 5am [of
November 8]. This man was a member of the Clermont set and is in a
position to know.”
Mr Crosby told the
court he had received the email seven years ago but had only recently
be able to retrieve it after his home was raided over claims of
animal cruelty. He now plans to interview the witness and submit a
statement to a full hearing at the High Court next year.
In 1975, an inquest
jury declared Lord Lucan as Ms Rivett's killer. Detectives believe
the aristocrat — a heavy gambler nicknamed "Lucky Lucan"
— intended to murder his wife and killed the nanny by mistake.
In 1999 Lord Lucan
was officially declared dead by the High Court, but a death
certificate had never been issued.
Additional reporting
by Press Association
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