November 7, 1974 London. Around ten o'clock in the evening, a bloody woman broke into the Plumber's Hands pub. She screamed that her ex-husband had just killed their nanny, and she herself miraculously ran away from him.
This woman was Countess Veronica Lucan, who lives in a house at 46 Lower Belgrave. She asked for help, worrying about the three children who remained at home.
Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene. The arriving policemen entered the house.
The rooms were dark and the police took out their flashlights. They saw that the room connecting the dining room and the kitchen was covered with blood. Near the wall lay a sack with the body of nanny Sandra Rivett.
The children were asleep safe and sound in their beds.
The same house at 46 Lower Belgrave.
While the police were examining the crime scene, Richard John Lucan raced to Ukefield. There lived a married couple of his friends - Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott. Since Ian was away, Susan received him alone.
The man told her his version of what happened. Allegedly, he was walking past his former house and decided to look into the basement window. Suddenly, he noticed that his wife was fighting a stranger who had attacked her. Richard opened the front door with his key and rushed to help her. When the man went down the stairs, he slipped in a pool of blood and fell. At this time, the attacker fled. Richard helped his wife upstairs while he went to the bathroom. At this time, she ran out of the house screaming.
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Deciding that there was too much circumstantial evidence against him, the man decided to leave the city.
Susan persuaded him to spend the night and go to the local police in the morning. However, the man said that he was going to return and left in an unknown direction slightly after midnight.
Three days later, a Ford that he borrowed from a friend a couple of weeks ago was found in New Haven. Inside there were traces of blood and a piece of water pipe wrapped in cloth. Presumably he was the murder weapon of the nanny.
Nothing is known about the future fate of the man.
Lucan family
Richard John Bingham - the future Earl of Lucan - was born in 1934. While studying at Eton, he discovered the greatest passion of his life - gambling. After working a little at the bank, he decided to give up this occupation and become a professional gambler.
In March 1963, he met Veronica Duncan. They got married the following November. But soon the relationship between the spouses began to deteriorate.
Veronica, absorbed in taking care of the house and small children, fell into depression. Richard was not interested in anything other than the game. Day and night, he disappeared in the club, where he lost large sums. It got to the point that the man refused to save money for the future education of his children.
In 1973, Veronica and Richard divorced. He was sure that due to mental problems, the mothers of the children would be left with him. But unexpectedly the court sided with Veronica.
Lucan tried to regain custody of the children by any means. He offered his ex-wife money and hired private detectives to find dirt on her. When the money was almost out, he began to spy on the house himself.
Court in absentia
Since Lucan's location was unknown, the trial took place without his presence. The ex-wife confidently stated that it was he who attacked her that day. She recognized him by his voice.
In her opinion, Sandra's target was not Sandra, but she. He simply confused her in the twilight of the basement, since the women were about the same height and physique. Realizing his mistake, he decided to finish what he had begun, but she managed to escape.
Sandra Rivett.
Half an hour later, the jury gave Lucan a verdict: guilty.
But not everyone believed in Lucan's guilt. In addition to family and friends, the journalist Sally Moore took his side. She conducted her own investigation and even wrote a book where she justified the Lord's innocence.
The further fate of Lucan
Where Richard Lucan disappeared is still unknown. There are various versions on this score. From banal suicide to the exotic speculation that his body was fed to tigers at the zoo.
Many believe that he, using his acquaintances, left the country. Over the next years, more than 70 reports were received from different parts of the earth that the lord was "seen".
What happened that day, whether Lucan was a murderer and where he eventually disappeared is still unknown.