Death of Lady Lucan reignites 1974 murder intrigue

Lady Lucan has been found dead in the London home she once shared with her husband, reigniting interest in the decades-old murder mystery involving her husband's disappearance, a bitter divorce and their murdered nanny.

Police found Lady Lucan’s body on Tuesday after forcing entry to her home in London’s well-heeled Belgravia. A friend raised the alarm when Lady Lucan failed to appear for her daily walk. Scotland Yard are treating her death as “unexplained” but not suspicious, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Her husband’s ‘death’ is another matter.

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John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, disappeared on 7 November 1974.

Sandra Rivett, nanny to the couple’s three children, was found bludgeoned to death at the family home that same night.

“Lady Lucan was also turned on by the attacker,” writes The Metro, adding that she was “beaten severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub, the Plumbers Arms.”

Sensationally, Lord Lucan’s car was found abandoned and blood-soaked in Newhaven, East Sussex, and investigators concluded that Lucan was Rivett’s killer - but the prime suspect was nowhere to be found.

Although Lucan was officially declared dead by the high court in 1999 and a death certificate was finally issued last year, he has supposedly been spotted over the years in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand. The Guardian adds that some claim he fled to India and “lived life as a hippy called Jungly Barry”.

Earlier this year, Lady Lucan gave a television interview in which she said Lord Lucan may have taken the “brave” decision to commit suicide, the BBC says. Whether Lord Lucan’s wife had more to say on the matter, will now never be known.