The thriller over the destiny of Lord Lucan who was accused of murdering his household’s nanny in his London dwelling earlier than fleeing took one other twist final night time — after a bombshell report claimed that a precise facial recognition match for the aristocrat has been made in Australia.
An 87-year-old Buddhist who lived in Nepal earlier than transferring Down Beneath is alleged to be a ‘particular match’ for Lucan, in response to Professor Hassan Ugail, a number one skilled within the discipline who accurately recognized the Russian brokers behind the Salisbury novichok poisonings.
The Mirror alleges that the pensioner moved from home to accommodate throughout Australia earlier than settling simply outdoors of Brisbane. When confronted by the paper, the OAP’s carers reportedly denied that he was Lucan, the British aristocrat which an inquest dominated had fled from justice 48 years in the past.
Lucan, who’s accused of murdering Sandra Rivett with a lead pipe in his Belgravia home, is suspected to have evaded authorities for years earlier than his obvious demise.
Nonetheless, Prof claims that the algorithm which produced a match for the 2 males is ‘by no means flawed’, The Mirror reported. The main laptop scientist used a synthetic intelligence algorithm to run 4,000 cross-checks images of Lucan and the thriller pensioner in Australia.
The peer’s spouse Veronica, who survived a equally brutal assault by the killer whom she named as her Eton-educated husband, died after taking a cocktail of drink and medicines in 2018.
Whereas Miss Rivett’s physique was discovered within the basement kitchen, forensic checks discovered blood on the high of the staircase within the corridor.
Neil Berriman, her surviving son, sensationally claimed in January 2020 that Lucan was alive and properly and residing as a Buddhist in Australia. His claims had been dismissed by commentators as outlandish by many commentators, regardless of police launching a probe to look into the matter.
An algorithm matched the images of an 87-year-old Buddhist residing in Brisbane to Lord Lucan, pictured along with his spouse
Lord and Woman Lucan with their son George, then aged three, taken from Woman Lucan’s photograph album
Sandra Rivett was overwhelmed to demise with a lead pipe. Her physique was discovered within the basement kitchen of Lucan’s Belgravia home
Professor Hassan Ugail, a number one skilled within the discipline who accurately recognized the Russian brokers behind the Salisbury novichok poisonings
His claims had been dismissed by commentators as outlandish by many commentators, regardless of police launching a probe to look into the matter.
Berriman additionally claimed that Bingham is housebound and awaiting a serious operation after many years residing Down Beneath. He mentioned he feared the fugitive might die of outdated age earlier than he’s ever dropped at justice.
He mentioned the police have ‘credible proof’ that the Australian man is without doubt one of the most infamous killers in historical past.
A Mail investigation revealed how three Cluedo playing cards – together with Colonel Mustard – had been present in Lord Lucan’s deserted automobile within the port city of Newhaven, East Sussex.
The Scotland Yard chilly case evaluate happened again in 2004 when detectives examined units of crime displays from the unique homicide investigation which had been hidden away in a police storage facility.
Its findings had been by no means been made public till lately. And crucially, it states that three playing cards had been lacking from a Cluedo set recovered from Lucan’s dwelling by homicide squad officers within the wake of the tragedy – the exact same playing cards that had been present in Lucan’s deserted automobile.
As anybody who has performed Cluedo will know, the purpose of the sport is to establish a assassin in a mansion filled with friends the place one has been killed. The playing cards depict characters who may be the killer, in addition to their potential weapons and the room the place the homicide happened.
Which supplies rise to essentially the most extraordinary query. Did the playboy aristocrat mannequin himself on Colonel Mustard and depart the three playing cards in his borrowed Ford Corsair as some kind of homicide confession, a sick boast even? Or did somebody plant them there to border him?
Together with Colonel Mustard (the assassin), the opposite two playing cards discovered within the Ford Corsair had been the Lead Piping (homicide weapon) and the Corridor (homicide location).
The surviving son of the murdered maid Neil Berriman, above, blasted police in 2020 for not arresting a person residing in an Australian Buddhist commune who he claims is her notorious killer. Proper, file picture of Lord Lucan
Chillingly, this trio of playing cards seems to symbolize the killing of the nanny Rivett. Blood was discovered on the basement stairs resulting in the corridor.
Her physique was present in a bag within the basement kitchen of Lucan’s household dwelling in Belgravia, the place the aristocrat additionally carried out a brutal assault on his estranged spouse, who survived regardless of struggling horrific accidents.
However the Cluedo lead shouldn’t be the one one talked about within the evaluate.
An intriguing new line of inquiry was pursued by police 18 years in the past – an alleged sighting of Lucan at a celebration within the Algarve weeks after the Rivett homicide.
If Lucan did certainly attend a social operate in Portugal, as a feminine witness tracked down and interviewed by the Met insisted, it could torpedo the speculation that the playing addict jumped to his demise within the sea after dumping his borrowed automobile at Newhaven.
A former Scotland Yard detective mentioned it was inconceivable to be definitive about most of the questions that also cling over the case.
Richard John Bingham, the seventh of Earl of Lucan, would discover himself on the centre of one of many world’s most enduring homicide mysteries throughout the Nineteen Seventies
Colonel Mustard enjoying card from a classic sport of Cluedo
However he added: ‘In my expertise, the our bodies of deceased individuals – together with those that have drowned – nearly all the time flip up. It is vitally troublesome to hide a physique.
‘Of all of the details within the case, the one I’m most sure of is that he did not die on this nation.
‘I believe he left or was helped to depart the nation. If I used to be to place cash on it, and given what I do know, I believe he went to Portugal alone or was helped to get there, after which transported to one of many Portuguese colonies reminiscent of Angola and Mozambique.’
Earlier than the Met launched its final main evaluate of the Lucan case in 2004, a senior detective penned a confidential report into the homicide – a replica of which has been handed to Nanny Rivett’s son Neil Berriman. It declares that the police didn’t have a single set of Lucan’s fingerprints, nor any of his DNA for a profile.
A separate preliminary report was written by a detective within the Met’s Critical Crime Group in January 2002, and a replica of this has additionally fallen into the arms of Neil Berriman. Its forensic account of his mom’s homicide and what Lucan did afterwards has by no means been revealed within the mainstream media. Dispassionate, detailed, it’s each disturbing and compelling.
The data the report incorporates relies on unique police recordsdata and proof which might have been used had Lucan ever stood trial for the killing.
Woman Annabel Birley, Zac Goldsmith’s mom, with Lord Lucan in an undated photograph. The destiny of the fugitive peer has captivated the imaginations of the British public for many years
Lucan, as many know, was an Outdated Etonian with a style for the excessive life. After ending Nationwide Service in 1955, he raced energy boats, drove an Aston Martin and decoratively left his job in a service provider financial institution to develop into an expert gambler.
The report refers to this: ‘He was related to unlawful playing homes in Belgravia and Mayfair, till playing was legalised in 1964, when he grew to become a founder member of The Clermont Membership. He was recognized by his playing buddies as ‘Fortunate’.’
Along with his fairly younger spouse Veronica, he arrange dwelling in 1964 in a five-storey Victorian terrace home, the place they’d three youngsters.
However Woman Lucan suffered poor psychological well being, notably post-natal despair, the wedding foundered and in 1973 Lucan moved to a flat close by, the place he was residing on the time of the homicide.
Based on the police report, Lord Lucan was ‘dedicated to his youngsters’, and it proved a bitter blow when Woman Lucan later gained an acrimonious custody battle for them.
It was round this stage, in September 1974, that Sandra Rivett grew to become their nanny. On Thursday November 7 that 12 months, Woman Lucan was watching tv in her bed room on the second flooring of her dwelling together with her daughter Frances and the 29-year-old nanny. The opposite two youngsters had been in mattress.
‘Thursdays had been normally Sandra Rivett’s night time off, however she had not gone out that night,’ says the Met report. ‘At roughly 8.55pm Sandra Rivett requested Woman Lucan whether or not would she would love a cup of tea… and went all the way down to the basement, the place the kitchen was.
‘At about 9.15pm Woman Lucan went to the basement to see what was taking Sandra so lengthy. She obtained to the highest of the steps that led to the basement and was shocked to see that there have been no lights on.
‘She shouted ‘Sandra, Sandra’. Then she heard a noise from a room behind her and she or he was struck over the top quite a lot of instances. At this stage, she had not seen her attacker.
‘She fell to the bottom and began to scream. Her attacker then put his gloved fingers down her throat and instructed her to ‘shut up’. She recognised the voice as Lord Lucan’s. A wrestle ensued, throughout which Woman Lucan bit his fingers and grabbed his genitalia.’
At this stage her attacker gave up the combat. ‘He appeared to lose energy and Woman Lucan tried to speak to him. She requested him the place Sandra was, he initially mentioned she had gone out. He then mentioned, ‘I’ve killed her, she got here down first, if it had been you, you’d have gotten it’.’
Woman Lucan managed to steer her husband to go upstairs together with her, in order that she might clear her accidents. They went as much as Woman Lucan’s bed room.
Lord Lucan positioned a towel on the mattress and Woman Lucan lay on it. He went to make use of the lavatory, whereupon she ran out of the home to The Plumbers Arms close by.
‘When she obtained into the pub,’ the report says, ‘she collapsed on the ground and screamed: ‘He is murdered the nanny and he is after the youngsters”. The police and an ambulance had been referred to as.
‘The primary officers on the scene spoke to Woman Lucan. She instructed them that the nanny had been murdered and she or he gave them her handle. Woman Lucan was taken to St George’s Hospital, SW1.’
Police went to the household dwelling and compelled the door open. Based on the Met file, officers found Sandra Rivett’s physique in a canvas United States mailbag within the basement.
There have been two separate ‘seats’ of assault, the report says. The primary in a small properly of the steps on the bottom flooring by the corridor.
Right here, the carpet was ‘closely stained with blood and there have been directional splashes of blood on the wall and ceiling’. There have been additionally smears of blood on the partitions and on a door that opened to the basement.
The Every day Mail of November 12, 1974, on the continuing thriller
The second ‘seat’ of assault was within the basement, the place there have been swimming pools of blood on the foot of the steps and blood on the wall.
They discovered a chunk of closely bloodstained lead piping wrapped in adhesive tape, and a lightweight bulb on a chair – it appeared to have been faraway from the basement mild. Presumably the nanny was attacked at the hours of darkness.
However what occurred to the fugitive after the assault?
Mrs Madeleine Florman lived some 200 yards not far away from Woman Lucan’s dwelling in Decrease Belgrave Avenue. She was in mattress at roughly 10.30pm on the night time of the homicide when she heard somebody persistently ringing her entrance door bell.
She selected to not reply the door. Then her cellphone rang. A male voice mentioned ‘Madeleine, I do know that is you.’ The speech was slurred and the person put the cellphone down. She believed it was Lord Lucan, in response to police.
At roughly 10.45pm, Lord Lucan’s mom Kaitlin acquired a cellphone name from a public cellphone field. It was her son. He instructed his mom that there had been essentially the most terrible disaster at his spouse’s dwelling. He mentioned he had seen a lightweight on within the basement and had interrupted a combat there.
He instructed her that Veronica (Woman Lucan) had been damage and the nanny had been damage worse. He requested her to contact his brother-in-law Invoice Shand-Kydd and instructed her to go to his spouse’s home instantly and get the youngsters.
She did simply that. The report takes up the story: ‘At 12.30am Kaitlin Lucan acquired a second name from her son. He enquired concerning the welfare of his youngsters. She instructed him that the police had been together with her and recommended that he ought to converse to them.
‘He instructed her that he would converse to them within the morning. Kaitlin Lucan thought he sounded a lot calmer throughout the second cellphone name, than in his first.’
Susan Maxwell-Scott was married to a playing buddy of Lord Lucan. On the night time of the homicide, she had gone to mattress at her dwelling in Uckfield, East Sussex.
At about 11pm she heard the entrance door bell, seemed out of the window and noticed that it was Lord Lucan.
She let him into the home and observed that he was barely dishevelled and that the higher proper leg of his trousers was moist.
‘Mrs Maxwell-Scott requested Lord Lucan what was flawed. He instructed her that he had had an ‘unbelievably nightmarish expertise’,’ in response to the 2002 police report.
‘He then instructed her that he had been strolling previous the household dwelling and noticed a person attacking his spouse within the basement. He defined that he went into the home… While he was there he slipped in a pool of blood and the person who had been attacking his spouse ran off. He mentioned that his spouse was lined in blood and that the nanny had been killed and was in a sack.’
Mrs Maxwell-Scott instructed detectives Lord Lucan he had panicked and left the home after discovering himself additionally drenched in blood.
‘Lord Lucan then took some writing paper, a pen and a few envelopes from Mrs Maxwell-Scott,’ continues the report. ‘He wrote two letters to Invoice Shand-Kydd (his brother in legislation) and left the letters with Mrs Maxwell-Scott. Her daughter posted each of them the next morning.
‘At roughly 1.15am, Lord Lucan left Mrs Maxwell-Scott, she thought that he was driving a darkish saloon car.
‘Mrs Maxwell-Scott didn’t report Lord Lucan’s go to to the police. It was solely found after Invoice Shand-Kydd knowledgeable the police that he had acquired two letters.’
Enquiries revealed that earlier than the homicide, in late October, Lucan had approached a playing fiend, Michael Stoop. He requested Stoop whether or not he might borrow his Ford Corsair. Stoop did not ask any questions and lent it to him.
‘From statements taken from two of the residents of Norman Highway, Newhaven, Sussex, it may be deduced that the Ford Corsair was parked on this avenue between 5am and 8am on November 8,’ says the report.
In its boot, the police discovered a size of lead piping wrapped in adhesive tape – similar to the homicide weapon on the crime scene. Blood smears and ‘tangled head hair’ had been additionally discovered within the automobile.
However what concerning the two letters, each of which had been bloodstained? They ‘had been acquired by Invoice Shand-Kydd on November 9 and he took them to the police’.
Within the first, Lucan claimed he had interrupted a combat at Decrease Belgrave Avenue. He additionally mentioned the circumstantial proof towards him was ‘very sturdy’ and that Veronica would say he ‘did it’ so he’ll ‘lie ‘doggo’ for a bit’.
The second letter was titled ‘Monetary Issues’ and talked of a sale at Christie’s public sale home that may fulfill financial institution overdrafts. It listed quite a lot of monetary establishments that ought to obtain the proceeds, including that ‘the opposite collectors can get misplaced’. This letter was signed ‘Fortunate’.
Woman Lucan in 2017 (left) and with Lord Lucan earlier than they married on November 20 1974
A lot of Lucan’s associates had described him as having monetary issues and mentioned he had come to them to borrow cash. He had giant money owed in relation to his baby custody battle and was consuming closely and playing repeatedly.
The autopsy examination of Rivett’s physique confirmed that she had acquired accidents to her head, bruising to her shoulders, arms and arms. She had cuts and bruising to the eyes according to a ‘slap or a punch’. The reason for demise was ‘blunt head accidents’. It concluded that the lead piping discovered on the homicide scene might have precipitated these accidents.
Woman Lucan had 5 lacerations of the cranium and brow. They had been deep and jagged and if she had acquired these wounds to the rear of her head, they could have been deadly. She additionally had lacerations on the within of her mouth.
By any requirements, it was a brutal homicide and will simply have been a double killing.
An inquest into the demise of Sandra Rivett was held in March 1975. In his absence, the jury returned the decision: ‘Homicide by Lord Lucan.’ The case was dedicated to the Crown Courtroom for trial, which by no means happened.
Within the 5 many years since, there have been dozens of supposed sightings of him in varied areas within the UK and around the globe – all documented in assertion kind and adopted up by the Met.
Formally the case stays ‘open’ however plans for a full-scale new investigation had been blocked in 2004 by senior Yard commanders, who questioned what it could obtain and at what value.
Lord Lucan’s life and grizzly legacy
The Every day Mail from November 1974 as police hunt for Lucan’s physique at sea and his estranged spouse Woman Lucan leaves a police station after saying he was responsible of the homicide – and making an attempt to kill her
December 18 1934: Richard John Bingham is born in London into an aristocratic household with connections to Eire.
1955: He obtained a job with a small service provider financial institution, William Brandts, for £500 a 12 months.
1960: He retires having gained £26,000 – round £600,000 in immediately’s cash – over two nights enjoying ‘chemin de fer’ at a playing occasion run by John Aspinall.
1963 Marries Veronica Duncan – the couple have three youngsters
1964 Turns into an earl after the demise of his father, the sixth Earl of Lucan
1972 Their marriage collapses and Lucan strikes out of the household dwelling at 46 Decrease Belgrave St, London. He loses a custody battle and accrues playing losses
November 7 1974 The kids’s nanny Sandra Rivett is discovered useless. At 9.45pm, Woman Lucan, in nice misery, burst into the Plumber’s Arms, the pub close to her dwelling within the unique space of Belgravia in central London.
With blood streaming from a number of wounds on her head, she cried: ‘Assist me, assist me, assist me! He is in the home! He is murdered my nanny!’
Woman Lucan, who was estranged from her husband, instructed police her estranged husband had killed their nanny and tried to kill her. Police discovered the couple’s three youngsters asleep of their beds, unhurt, and after they went to the basement they had been greeted by a macabre scene.
The basement lightbulb had been eliminated, however within the semi-darkness, officers made out a pool of blood with a person’s footprint in it, a blood-stained size of lead piping and a mailbag containing a physique.
November 14 1974: Lucan’s automobile is discovered deserted close to Newhaven and police start seraching for his physique at sea after his speedboat was discovered scuppered.
June 1975 Lucan is called as Ms Rivett’s killer on the inquest into her demise.
1999 His household is granted probate over Lord Lucan’s property, however no demise certificates is issued.
2016: A court docket issued a ‘presumption of demise’ certificates for Lord Lucan, a ruling that cleared the best way for the couple’s son, George Bingham, to develop into the eighth Earl of Lucan.