John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan

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Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born December 18, 1934 in London , England ; missing since November 8, 1974 and officially declared dead on February 3, 2016 ), called "Lucky Lucan" , was a British nobleman , who disappeared in November 1974 after his nanny, Sandra Rivett, was found murdered. His whereabouts are not known. He was found missing on December 11, 1992 and finally pronounced dead in 1999 . His son George Bingham applied for a death certificate to be issued on December 8, 2015 under the Presumption of Death Act 2013 so that he could inherit his father's title. On February 3, 2016, the issuance of the death certificate was approved by the court. The judge in charge explained her decision by saying that Bingham had not been seen alive for at least seven years.

Life

Bingham was the eldest son of George Bingham, 6th Earl of Lucan , and Kaitilin Elizabeth Anne Dawson. As his father's apparent marriage , he carried the courtesy title of Lord Bingham from 1949 to 1964 . He had two sisters and a brother. He studied at Eton College and then served as an officer in the Coldstream Guards . In 1963 he married Veronica Mary Duncan. When his father died in 1964, at the age of 29, he inherited his title as 7th Earl of Lucan . Bingham's mother died in 1985. He worked as a merchant banker , but after winning £ 26,000 at the Chemin du Fer card game in Le Touquet , he left the job and became a professional player. Due to his gambling addiction, he accumulated considerable debts. At the time of his disappearance, he was practically bankrupt. His circle of friends, with whom Lucan played regularly at the Clermont Club in London, included Charles Saatchi and James Goldsmith .

Disappear

46 Lower Belgrave Street in London (June 2012), the place of the action

Bingham's whereabouts have been unknown since November 8, 1974. That day, the family's nanny, Sandra Rivett, was found murdered in the apartment of his wife, who was separated from him, in London. Lady Lucan, who was also attacked that night, testified that her husband confessed to accidentally killing Rivett.

Lord Lucan claimed that he was walking past the house when he saw someone fighting with Lady Lucan and that he had entered the house to help her. He calmed her down and she lay down to rest, but then she left the house while he was getting a towel in the bathroom to clean her face. Suddenly he heard her scream "Murder, murder!" In the street. At least that was what Lord Lucan told Susan Maxwell-Scott, a close family friend in Uckfield , East Sussex , to whom he said he had fled in a panic. A car Lord Lucan borrowed from another friend was later found abandoned in Newhaven , East Sussex. There were traces of blood in the car from two different people.

In June 1975 a coroner's jury found Bingham guilty of the killing of Sandra Rivett. According to today's legal understanding, this is not a final judicial judgment. The police continue to keep the case on file as unsolved and, as is customary in all unsolved murder cases, periodically review it. In the death certificate of Rivett says: "Cause of death: Blunt head injuries that were inflicted by a particular person. Killing. ”This was the last time an investigative body was allowed to pronounce a guilty verdict prior to the introduction of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

Possible motives

At the time of the crime, Lady Lucan had custody of her three children. Lord Lucan thought his wife was mentally unstable and said he should have custody of the children, but British courts almost always gave custody to the mothers. It was therefore suspected that the lord actually wanted to murder his ex-wife and accidentally killed the nanny in the dark. Meanwhile, Lady Lucan has fallen out with her children. In 1982 Lady Lucan received an affidavit in the mail in which her 15-year-old son stated that he found it much more pleasant to live as part of the family of his aunt and uncle. Lady Lucan waived a legal challenge and her son has lived separately from her since then. In 1992, her daughter announced her wedding in an advertisement in the Times and, to the annoyance of the mother, who had her husband declared "presumably deceased" a year earlier, called herself the " younger daughter of the 7th Earl of Lucan wheresoever and the." Countess of Lucan ”(“ the younger daughter of the 7th Earl of Lucan, wherever he is and the Countess of Lucan ”). The mother was not invited to the wedding, even though it was "just a stone's throw from her home" in a church on Eaton Row.

Another motive gave a friend, Greville Howard, the police: Lord Lucan wanted to solve his financial problems and avert his bankruptcy by killing Lady Lucan and throwing her body in the Solent .

Lord Lucan's friend George Weiss, who had been playing backgammon with him at the Clermont Club the day before the murder, reported in 2014 that Lucan had recently bought a kitten as a present for his children in order to make up with his family . A few hours after he left the gift at the house on Belgrave Street, the kitten was put through the mail slot in his apartment with her throat cut. At this point, Weiss said, it became clear to Lucan that his family had finally broken up; this led him to plan the murder of his wife.

Later developments

Since his disappearance on November 8, 1974, the Lord has never been seen with certainty anywhere. Family members later suspected that he had committed suicide that same day by drowning himself in the English Channel . Others suspected that he had fled the UK and lived elsewhere under a false identity. In 2000, John Aspinall, Lucan's friend, died in whose Clermont Club Lucan was still on the night of the murder and who many suspected he knew more than he was ready to admit. On July 31, 1999, a motion by George Bingham, Lucan's son, to officially declare his father dead and to take his title and seat in the House of Lords, was dismissed by Lord Chancellor , Lord Irvine of Lairg . A little later, in August 1999, the High Court of Justice ruled that Lord Lucan was dead and that his family could dispose of his property. However, the declaration does not count as a death certificate "for all purposes", which is why Lucan's son made another attempt on October 17, 2015 to declare his father dead under the premises of the Presumption of Death Act, which came into force in 2013 . Lucan's son could not take a seat in the House of Lords at this time, since the 1999 House of Lords Act had severely restricted the number of hereditary peers in the House of Lords .

Reported sightings

Many alleged sightings of Bingham have been reported from around the world since his disappearance, but police have been unsuccessful in their efforts to find the missing earl.

In December 1974, police believed a man arrested in Australia was Lord Lucan. In fact, it was UK MP John Stonehouse who faked suicide a month earlier .

Johannesburg Jeff

In the 1990s it was widely believed that Lord Lucan had been seen in the South Africa area . In 2007 the Daily Mail suggested that this was a false identity of a man nicknamed "Johannesburg Jeff".

John Aspinall

Among the most bizarre stories is the claim that there is an affidavit held by the Daily Mirror tabloid , testifying to a Bedfordshire woman who was formerly employed by Lord Lucan's friend John Aspinall . It explains that Aspinall hid the fugitive Lord Lucan in his zoo, where he was torn to pieces and killed by a tiger; his body was hastily disposed of.

Aspinall gave an interview in 2000 in which he said that he believed Lord Lucan committed suicide by sinking his motorboat moored in Newhaven . Aspinall said he had no doubt that Lord Lucan killed the nanny, but that it was an accident; Lord Lucan actually wanted to kill his wife and then killed himself out of shame.

In February 2012, a woman who wanted to remain anonymous and who only described herself as John Aspinall's secretary, told the BBC that she arranged two trips to Africa for Lord Lucan's children between 1979 and 1981 so that he could see them from afar could. She took John Aspinall's declaration in 2000 as a sign that Lord Lucan had died in Africa at that time. Lady Lucan stated that this sighting was "absurd" as her husband could never have lived abroad as he could never have got used to a foreign culture. She also stated that her children never left the country during the period in question.

Barry Halpin

In September 2003, Duncan MacLaughlin, a former Scotland Yard detective, published a book called Dead Lucky: Lord Lucan, the Ultimate Truth . In it he claims that he solved the mystery of Lucan's disappearance. Lucan fled to Goa in India , where he arrived a year after Rivett's death. The book contains photos from 1991 of a man who resembles Lucan. The man, who died in 1996, was known in Goa under the name Barry Halpin (or, as the book says: "Jungle Barry").

However, these claims were immediately refuted. Mike Harding, presenter on BBC Radio 2 , wrote in a letter to The Guardian that he had known Barry Halpin from his time as a folk musician in Liverpool in the 1960s and that he went to India “because it was there is more spiritual than in St. Helens ”.

For the newspaper The Sunday Telegraph , which had published excerpts from the book as a sequel story, this was as embarrassing as the Sunday Times ' publication of the falsified Hitler diaries after the extremely quick rebuttal of the claims . The book was republished in paperback a year later under the title "The Lucan Conspiracy" with an additional final chapter and the summary: "How the establishment led the world to believe that Lord Lucan was Barry Halpin".

New Zealand

In August 2007, the Auckland -based New Zealand Herald reported that ex-Scotland Yard detective Sidney Ball was investigating allegations that Lord Lucan lived in an old Land Rover outside Marton parish, apparently with a possum , a cat and one Goat (named Camilla) as pets. Mr. Ball said neighbors of the man named Roger Woodgate were convinced that he was Lord Lucan but that he had no further information on the case until his investigations were completed. The man has an upper class accent and may be receiving income from real estate in the UK. He has denied being Lord Lucan, claiming he works as a photographer for the Ministry of Defense and left the UK five months before Lord Lucan's disappearance. Mr. Woodgate also claimed that he was ten years younger than Lord Lucan and eight inches shorter.

New findings in 2012

In December 2012, the BBC reported a written testimony from Lord Lucan's sister, Lady Sarah Gibbs, dated November 1974 that at the time of Sandra Rivett's murder there was another man in the house besides Lord Bingham. He was allegedly the friend of the murdered and often stayed in the Lucan's house. Lady Sarah Gibbs had passed away in 2001, but her testimony only came to light after BBC reporters were able to examine old documents from police archives. The testimony coincides in part with Lord Lucan's assertion that on the night of the murder he saw an unknown man arguing with his wife in the house, who, however, fled. After this index became known, Hugh Bingham, Lord Lucan's brother living in South Africa, expressed his annoyance that this testimony had not been consulted back in 1975 and called for the investigation to be restarted. The murdered man's son, Neil Berriman, also followed suit.

Statement by Neil Berriman 2016

On the occasion of the application for a death certificate, Sandra Rivett's son Neil Berriman stated that he had looked at files from the Metropolitan Police in London which in 2002 said Bingham was still alive. In his view, Bingham likely died in Africa later. He accused unspecified individuals of not disclosing details and speculated that police knew more than they were publicly admitting. He announced further investigations of his own. He had withdrawn his original objection to the issuance of a death certificate.

literature

  • Willam Coles: Lord Lucan. My story . Ulverscroft Press, Leicester 2010, ISBN 978-1-4448-0133-0 (EA London 1952)
  • Ian Crosby: Lord Lucan. The Lucan emails. ISBN 978-0-9565337-0-8 .
  • Ian Crosby: Lord Lucan. Africa a new beginning . Anglo Books, Torquay 2011, ISBN 978-0-9565-3373-9 .
  • Jill Dawson : The Language of the Birds . Scepter, 2019
  • Daniel Smith (Ed.): The 100 Greatest Secrets of the World . Weltbild, Augsburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-8289-4714-6 , p. 220ff.
  • Norman Lucas: The Lucan Mystery. Allen Books, London 1976, ISBN 0-4910-1895-9 .
  • Duncan MacLaughlin: Dead Lucky. Lord Lucan, the final truth . John Blake, London 2003, ISBN 1-8445-4010-3 .
  • Patrick Marnham: Trail of Havoc. In the steps of Lord Lucan . Viking, New York 1987, ISBN 0-670-81391-5 .
  • Sally Moore: Lucan, Not Guilty. Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1987, ISBN 0-283-99536-X .
  • Roy Ranson: Lord Lucan. The Final Verdict. Smith Gryphon, London 1994, ISBN 1-8568-5069-2 .
  • James Ruddick: Lord Lucan. What Really Happened. Headline Books, London 1994, ISBN 0-7472-7826-1 .
  • Laura Thompson: A different class of murder. The story of Lord Lucan . Head of Zeus Publ., London 2014, ISBN 978-1-7818-5536-2 .
  • Richard Wilmott: Troops of Midian. The story behind Lord Lucan's escape . Branwick Publ., Felixstowe 2003, ISBN 1-8980-3062-6 .

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ a b Caroline Davies, Our fascination with Lord Lucan never fades - but who was he? In: The Guardian, February 3, 2016, accessed February 4, 2016
  2. ↑ Lord Lucan's son applies for death certificate so he can inherit title in: The Guardian , December 8, 2015, accessed December 8, 2015
  3. ↑ a b Lord Lucan death certificate granted more than 40 years after disappearance in: The Guardian, February 3, 2016, accessed February 3, 2016
  4. ↑ Lord Lucan's pal George Weiss breaks 40-year silence Daily Mirror , November 6, 2014
  5. ^ A b Official website of the Countess of Lucan. 2003, archived from the original on June 6, 2012 ; accessed on December 10, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Lord Lucan's pal George Weiss breaks 40-year silence Daily Mirror , November 6, 2014
  7. ^ Lynn Barber: Lord Lucan's last secret goes to the grave among gorillas. The Guardian, July 2, 2000, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Lucan's son barred from Lords. BBC News, July 31, 1999, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Vikram Dodd: Ruling on Lucan means son cannot take Lords seat. The Guardian, July 31, 1999, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Lord Lucan officially dead. The Guardian , October 27, 1999, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Son applies for Lord Lucan to be 'presumed dead'. BBC News, October 17, 2015, accessed October 17, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Witnesses reveal Lord Lucan's secret life in Africa BBC News February 18, 2012
  13. ↑ Wife claims Lord Lucan 'would not have coped abroad' BBC News February 20, 2012
  14. ↑ Lord Lucan 'mystery man' witness statement uncovered. BBC, December 10, 2012, accessed December 10, 2012 .
predecessor Office successor
George Bingham Earl of Lucan
1964-2016 		George Bingham
personal data
SURNAME Bingham, John, 7th Earl of Lucan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bingham, Richard John, 7th Earl of Lucan (full name); Bingham, John, Lord Bingham; Lucky Lucan (nickname); Lucan, Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England
DATE OF DEATH between November 8, 1974 and February 3, 2016