Sandra
Rivett death location (16th September 1945 to 7th November 1974 )
Young members of the aristocracy don't vanish but one of the
most curious disappearances in British history is that of Lord Lucan (or Lord Richard
John Bingham Lucan). He was only 39 years when he thought he'd bludgeoned his wife
in the semi-darkness of the family home. However it was a calamitous mistake - he'd
killed his children's nanny. Minutes later he tried to kill his wife Veronica
but she escaped and survived (I met her a couple of times.) That November night
in 1974 Lucan fled from the home in Belgravia and his family never saw him
again. Here I am outside the house where the murder and attempted murder
happened.
In
1974 Lord and Lady Lucan divorced after a decade together and were bitterly fighting
in the courts for custody of their three children. They'd enjoyed a five-star
life padded with wealth, powerboats, status, nannies and exotic holidays - all
notched up a level when the Lucan inherited the earldom upon his dad’s death. However
after marrying Lucan continued life as a bachelor - choosing to gamble at
casinos for a living (often losing £10,000 a night) rather than find secure
employment. He treated his wife Veronica cruelly by belittling and demeaning
her and trying to have her mentally sectioned. When the marriage ended Lucan left
the six-storey family home in Belgravia. A court battle for the kids ended with
Veronica winning with the proviso that she employed a nanny. She was called
Sandra Rivett and only became famous upon her bloody death age 29.
At
9 pm on Thursday 7th November 1974 Veronica was at home with the
children. Sandra the nanny was there, too. She went downstairs to the basement
kitchen to get some tea. The lights wouldn’t come on but she descended the
stairs anyway. Lucan was waiting and used a piece of lead piping to hammer her
skull. Death came quickly and Lucan forced the bloodied corpse into a large sack.
Before or after this he realised this was not his wife! Minutes later when
Veronica came down to look for Sandra he tried to beat her skull too and then
choke her by shoving his fingers down her throat. Diminutive and determined she
disarmed him by biting his fingers then squeezing his testicles. Veronica was
hustled her upstairs to the lounge. Lucan said the nanny was dead, she wouldn't
be missed and would she remain at home until her wounds had healed? He asked
her to lay on the bed and would she swallow some sleeping pills? Veronica
guessed he would press a pillow over her face and was looking to flee. While Lucan
was running water in the en-suite bathroom she had about four seconds to run. Leaving
the front door she turned left and sprinted about a hundred metres down to road
to The Plumber’s Arm public house. Shocked drunk customers lay her on a bench
while they called the police. Veronica and the children never saw their husband/dad
again.
Lucan
fled into night and drove out into the Sussex countryside to the manor house of
a friend. He said he’d disturbed an intruder at the house who was attacking his
wife (an unlikely tale) and wrote two letters to two friends. Their topic was
about the future care of the children and were subliminal suicide letters. At
dawn the next day he drove to Newhaven on the south coast and left the friend’s
car he'd borrowed on a street with the bloody murder weapon in the boot.
Despite
stories of his whereabouts persisting for decades there haven't been any reliable
sightings of him since that night. It’s thought that panic, remorse and guilt
compelled him to (1) fill his pockets with pebbles and drown himself in
Newhaven harbour (though no body was found) or (2) board a ferry to Dieppe and
throw himself into the propeller blades. Later in an interview Veronica said
her husband was an accomplished powerboat racer who knew something about propellers
and had probably died in this manner. Knowing him well she said, “He likes
England, he couldn’t speak foreign languages, and he preferred English food.” A court found him guilty of murder in
his absence. Twenty-five years passed before he was officially presumed dead
for probate purposes.
While
visiting London I've walked to Lower Belgrave Street a few times. Having
collected about ten books and as many documentaries about the murder I couldn’t
quite believe I was there in posh Belgravia. It’s just off Eaton square, the
poshest one in the city where houses sell for £35 - £40 million.
From
the pavement you can look down into the basement where Sandra was murdered.
Lucan told his friend he'd been walking by the house on the night Sandra was
murdered and spotted an intruder in the basement. The likely truth is that he
let himself, removed the basement light bulbs and laid in wait for his wife.
Sandra was unlucky. Normally met her boyfriend on Thursday nights but had seen
him the previous night and was working that night. She died so quickly she
didn't have time to scream and left a son and an estranged husband. Had she been
off work that night Lucan would have killed his wife and eventually been tried
for her murder (he doesn't sound to have been a naive man.)
I
called in The Plumber's Arms pub in the hope of seeing the bench near the
window where customers lay her down. It was a Friday afternoon though and
workers were crammed in like sardines in a tin.
Sandra the nanny was cremated and her
ashes were scattered at Mitcham Road cemetery in Surrey. The Lucan's son George
is now the eighth Earl Of Lucan.
An
interview with Veronica here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmV5yTzV9U4
A
summary of Sandra's short life is here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157765447/sandra-eleanor-rivett
