Lord Lucan – the murderous noble only faked his death

Lord Lucan is one of the most mysterious criminals in British history. To the outside world, he and his wife Veronica presented the image of a perfect British upper-class life. The title, the noble origins and a house in the posh area of ​​Belgravia. Then in 1974, in a fit of rage, the Lord killed the nanny Sandra Rivett with a lead pipe – in his madness he believed she was his wife.

He then disappeared without a trace – his bloodied Ford Corsair was found abandoned in Newhaven harbor a few days later, but nothing else. He was later declared dead. Since then, his disappearance and possible survival have occupied the British media. There were wild theories. For example, that the lord had hidden with relatives, but because of the disgrace he had brought on the family, they killed him and threw his body to a tiger that they kept as a pet.

Now a woman, Editha Moynihan, swears to the Daily Mail that she saw Lord Duncan in the Philippines, ten years after the death of Sandra Rivett. Your social position makes the statement plausible. Editha is the widow of Baron Moynihan of Leeds. A notorious aristocrat – associated with fraud, prostitution and drug trafficking. Also present at one party were Michael Taylour, the Marquess of Headfort, also a man of dubious reputation, and a third nobleman whom she did not know. Her husband later told her that it was Richard John Bingham, Lord Lucan.

Baron Moynihan was living in Manila because he was wanted for fraud in Britain. He had squandered his fortune, but found a new source of money with “massage parlors”. In addition, he was able to obtain “real” passports. He used the trick described in the novel “The Jackal”. He obtained birth certificates from the dead and used them to apply for passports. The British registration system had no way of knowing whether these people had died.

These deals were made possible by an “old boy” network of upper-class men who remained close throughout their lives. Through school, university and the military. With Baron Moynihan and Lord Lucan, gambling was added. Lucan was a professional gambler and a severe alcoholic. Handsome, charismatic and popular. His friend John Aspinall said after Sandra Rivett’s murder that in order to leave the country, Lord Lucan “had more friends to call on than anyone I know.”

Editha Moynihan said Lucan came to the Philippines from Thailand to collect his fake passport. Lucan had changed, his hair was now mottled grey. Then he had an artificial birthmark made on his cheek. So striking that it drew attention and the face receded. Lord Lucan was still an attractive man. “He was a bit taller but still very personable, very clean looking and very well dressed. I was impressed by the way he wore his clothes, he was a tall man.” He no longer had a beard and had become gaunt. He lived with them for two days. Her husband never had secrets from her, says Editha Moynihan. “Why would Tony lie to me… And why would he tell me it was Lucan?”

Editha Moynihan said she even has proof of her claims. The Lord gave her a farewell card and cut off a lock of her hair, saying that this gift would be of use to her later. Her husband told her to tell Scotland Yard one day that the missing lord was “not a product of her imagination, but the result of her own incompetence.” The paper believes something like this is entirely possible. Moynihan and Lucan were close friends and both despised the police. The idea of ​​humiliating the police officers from the grave would have been very appealing to both of them.

Lady Lucan died in 2017, very close to her old home. The entire life of Veronica, Dowager Countess of Lucan, was overshadowed by the murder. In a TV documentary and her biography, she gave insights into her destructive marriage. “I deeply regret that my marriage was to blame for Sandra Rivett’s death,” Lady Lucan said in the documentary. She thinks about Rivett every day. At the time, she had been taking strong medication for depression. She lived in fear of ending up in a psychiatric hospital. Her husband sometimes seemed distant. Before they had sex together, Lucan punished her with the cane – but only moderately, never uncontrollably. On the night of the murder he was completely out of his mind. Suddenly he came to again. She recalled: “He then told me, ‘That’s why I’m going to Broadmoor’ (A notorious penitentiary, ed.).”

Lady Lucan gave no room to speculation that her husband might still be alive. “I think he went on the ferry and jumped into the water in the middle of the English Channel, right above the propellers, so no remains could be found. He was pretty brave.” In all of the Dowager Countess’s statements you can see her remorse, but also her fascination for her violent husband. Maybe she’s protected him all her life.