THE TRIAL OF LORD LUCAN, DAY 1 – The Document
Gripping and full of suspense, it reads like a script for a Hollywood movie or Netflix drama series.
But in fact it is the official police report on one of the most infamous crime cases ever and was written by a senior detective nearly half a century ago.
In episode two of the Mail’s landmark podcast series The Trial Of Lord Lucan, an actor quotes from the 15,000-word Scotland Yard document which gives a definitive account of the Lord Lucan mystery.
It will be 50 years this November 7 since the 39-year-old British aristocrat vanished without trace within hours of the murder of his nanny Sandra Rivett, 29, and the near fatal assault on his wife Veronica, who blamed her Eton-educated husband for both attacks.
Police have long believed that Lucan killed mother-of-two Mrs Rivett in the basement kitchen of his family’s Belgravia home in Central London, after mistaking her for his estranged wife.
The Trial of Lord Lucan: Follow The Mail’s brand new podcast wherever you get your podcasts
It has been almost 50 years since British aristocrat Lord Lucan, 39, vanished without a trace
The Earl disappeared after his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett was murdered in the family home
The blood-soaked basement with Sandra’s body inside a mail sack beside a cast-off shoe
Today’s episode lays bare how the peer’s powerful circle of friends put up an immediate wall of silence to protect him and reveals in astonishing detail how the Crown’s case against him was put together.
The Report includes references to a key prosecution witness who is believed to have been infatuated with Lucan and who police suspect did not tell the police the ‘whole truth’ about their encounter hours after the Sandra Rivett murder, and describes how the fugitive’s other friends in the ‘International Socialite Set’ were reluctant to assist detectives.
It also details evidence of how the debt-ridden earl had spent weeks planning to murder his wife Veronica and dump her body at sea, and a plot by his friends to smear Mrs Rivett’s reputation at any subsequent trial and attribute her murder to a lover.
The document, written at times in colourful language acceptable in the 1970s and reveals police spent months delving into Mrs Rivett’s background, amid fears she would be accused of being a ‘lesbian, a prostitute or at the very least a woman of loose morals’.
Lord Lucan’s wife Veronica Mary Duncan suffered a near-fatal assault on the same night
Lady Lucan with Frances and George, two of the three children she had with her husband
Nanny Sandra was bludgeoned to death
The Plumbers Arms, where Lady Lucan ran to after finding Sandra dead in her house
Susan Maxwell-Scott with her husband William. She was the last person to see Lord Lucan alive
Lucan’s friends also tried to smear Lady Lucan, by depicting her as insane but police concluded that although ‘highly strung’ she was a truthful witness.
Detective Chief Superintendent Roy Ranson’s report also reveals the peer’s extensive efforts to construct an alibi before the murder and his earlier plans to use listening devices to spy on his wife at their family home, as well as a detailed breakdown of his dire finances and huge loans from relatives and his social circle.
After giving a comprehensive account of the murder of Mrs Rivett and the attempted murder of his wife Veronica, Ranson explains why he is certain Lucan was the ‘author’ of the crimes.
In the first episode of the Mail’s landmark podcast series, co-presenters Caroline Cheetham and Stephen Wright visit the original crime scene in Belgravia and discuss the importance of the police document obtained by the Mail.
So will you clear Lucan… or not? Listen to the podcast and decide for yourself.
Listen to The Trial of Lord Lucan here, as well as everywhere you usually get your podcasts.
