World

'I'm on the run but I'm not Lord Lucan'

by Tom van B | August 9, 2007 at 01:44 pm

460 views | 20 Recommendations | 1 comment

This intriguing 1974 Lord Lucan mystery story has surfaced again - this time in the small town of Marton (population 6000) in New Zealand.

"Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, vanished in 1974 after his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, was found bludgeoned to death in his estranged wife's London home."

What happened to Lord Lucan will remain a mystery after it was revealed yesterday that the slightly eccentric Roger Woodgate, who has a pet possum and sleeps in a Land Rover is not the man.

But, at 62, Mr Woodgate is 10 years too young - and a good few centimetres too short.

"I'm sorry chaps, I'm not Lord Lucan," he told the media scrum that marched on to his property yesterday.

"I heard something on the radio this morning and I just laughed."

Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, vanished in 1974 after his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, was found bludgeoned to death in his estranged wife's London home.

As a £2 million life insurance policy had been taken out on Lady Lucan only two weeks earlier, it was believed he mistook the nanny for his wife.

Mr Woodgate, a beneficiary, confirmed he left London for Palmerston North in 1974.

He blames a neighbour for spreading the rumour that he was Lord Lucan.

"This whole thing's a bit like Elvis. If he was still alive he'd probably be dead by now. It could be the same for Lord Lucan and Adolf Hitler."

The neighbour, Margaret Harris, said it was Mr Woodgate's comments to locals that sparked her curiosity.