Veronica Lucan

Lady Lucan

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder.

He was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, the eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan, and Kaitlin Dawson.Lucan was an evacuee during the Second World War but returned to attend Eton College, and served with the Coldstream Guards in West Germany from 1953 to 1955.

Having developed a taste for gambling, he played backgammon and bridge, and was an early member of the exclusive group of rich British gamblers at the Clermont Club.

Lucan's losses often exceeded his winnings, yet he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler.

He was known as Lord Bingham from April 1949 until January 1964, during his father's lifetime.Lucan was considered for the role of James Bond in the cinematic adaptations of Ian Fleming's novels.

He was known for his expensive tastes; he raced power boats and drove an Aston Martin.In 1963, Lucan married Veronica Duncan, with whom he had three children.

The couple moved home to 46 Lower Belgrave Street in Belgravia in 1967, paying £17,500 for the house.After the marriage collapsed in late 1972, he moved out to a nearby property.

A bitter custody battle ensued, which Lucan eventually lost.Apparently obsessed with regaining custody of the children, Lucan began to spy on his wife and record their telephone conversations.

This fixation, combined with mounting legal expenses and gambling losses, had a dramatic effect on Lucan's life and personal finances.

On the evening of 7 November 1974, Sandra Rivett, the nanny of Lucan's children, was bludgeoned to death in the kitchen of the Lucan family home.

Lady Lucan was also attacked after going to investigate Rivett's whereabouts.She identified Lord Lucan as her assailant.Lucan had, by then, driven to visit a friend in Uckfield, East Sussex.

Lucan then telephoned his mother and asked her to collect his children, saying there had been an incident at the family home; he also penned a letter.

His car was later found abandoned in Newhaven, its interior stained with blood and its boot containing a piece of bandaged lead pipe similar to one found at the crime scene.

By the time the police issued a warrant for his arrest a few days later, Lucan had vanished.At the inquest into Rivett's death, held in June 1975, the jury returned a verdict naming Lucan as her killer.

There has been continuing interest in Lucan's fate, with hundreds of alleged sightings being reported in various countries around the world, none of which has been substantiated.

Despite a police investigation and widespread press coverage, Lucan has never been found.He was presumed dead in chambers on 11 December 1992, and was declared legally dead in October 1999.

Finally, in 2016, a death certificate was issued, allowing his titles to be inherited by his son George.