British court rules ‘Lord Lucan is dead’ more than 40 years after he disappeared and triggered mystery that still baffles
Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, vanished at the age of 39 after his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death in 1974 at the London home of Lucan’s estranged wife.
A British judge declared the infamous Lord Lucan officially dead on Wednesday, four decades after he disappeared following the murder of the family’s nanny in a lurid tale that has gripped Britain.
“The court must make the declaration that is sought on this case,” judge Sarah Asplin told a court in London following an application by Lucan’s son George Bingham, who officially becomes the 8th Earl of Lucan.
Bingham, 48, launched a High Court bid to obtain a death certificate for his father last year, bringing to an end one chapter in a story still full of unanswered questions that revolves around London high society of the 1970s and its gambling underworld.
“I am very happy with the judgement of the court in this matter. It has been a very long time coming,” Bingham told reporters after the hearing. “I got married this year. I’ve started a new branch in my career. It was a nice moment to say farewell to a very distant past and to move on at a very personal level.
Our family has no idea how our own father met his own end. Whether he did so at his own hand or at the hand of others
“Our family has no idea how our own father met his own end. Whether he did so at his own hand or at the hand of others. It’s a mystery and it may well remain that way forever.”