Lucan widow killed herself with drink and drugs, wrongly fearing she had Parkinson’s
LADY Lucan took a cocktail of drink and drugs to end her life because she wrongly believed she was developing Parkinson’s disease, an inquest heard yesterday.
The widow of fugitive Lord Lucan had diagnosed herself with Parkinson’s because she had developed a tremor and other potential symptoms.
Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead last September at her Belgravia home. She was 80.
Police officers who broke into the terraced town house discovered her lying on the dining room floor in her dressing gown, nightgown and slippers on top of a bottle of pills which was empty, but for one capsule.
They also found a plastic bag and a builder’s face mask with red lipstick on it nearby.
Lord Lucan lived at the property before he famously disappeared on the night of November 7, 1974, after bludgeoning their children’s nanny Sandra Rivett to death.
He is widely thought to have mistaken the nanny for his wife in the dark basement. The couple were engaged in a bitter custody battle over their three young children.
Lady Lucan, who was one of the last people to see her husband John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, alive, had been through the final edit of her autobiography with her publisher a few weeks before she took own life. She hoped that the book would be published before Christmas. It told of her acrimonious struggles with Lord Lucan, a professional gambler.
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard yesterday that her body was found after she was reported missing by her friend David Davies. He had become concerned when she did not turn up for their regular walk in St James’ Park.
Mr Davies told officers he had not seen her for two days and was worried because they had discussed assisted suicide.
Lady Lucan, who was born in Uckfield, East Sussex, was worried she had developed Parkinson’s after she noticed a tremor in her right hand, lost her sense of smell, felt tired and anxious and suffered from insomnia, the inquest heard.
However, she had not been diagnosed by a doctor and a post-mortem examination revealed no signs of the illness.
She had visited a meeting run by an assisted suicide advocacy group with Mr Davies the previous year and she also complained of having money troubles.
She wrote in her diary about how to commit suicide if she became frail and had books on assisted dying.
In one entry on August 5 last year, about six weeks before her death, she listed potential suicide items copied from the books.
In a written statement Mr Davies, who had known her for two years, said: ‘We went to a lecture on how to help people with a terminal illness end their lives peacefully.
‘She gave the impression she was hard up. We both discussed how to end our lives, but only if we developed a degenerative or terminal illness or became reliant on other people.
‘But she seemed cheerful the last time I saw her.’ A pathologist concluded Lady Lucan died from respiratory of failure tablets caused and by alcohol a lethal poisoning. dose Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox recorded a verdict of suicide, saying: ‘It’s clear [Lady Lucan had] for some time been considering how she could ... take her own life.
‘It is possible she removed the bag from her head as she fell, hitting her head on the skirting board. But that’s speculation.’ She concluded: ‘I’m entirely satisfied that suicide is the final conclusion.’
The hearing was attended by Lady Lucan’s daughter Camilla Bingham. Although the widow did not speak to
‘She seemed cheerful’ ‘End their lives peacefully’
her children for more than three decades, her estranged son and heir George, the 8th Earl of Lucan, attended her funeral last year along with sisters Frances and Camilla.
Lady Lucan only formally became the Dowager Countess last year after a death certificate was issued for her husband, enabling George to inherit the family title. Lack of sleep, tremor and the loss of the sense of smell are recognised as potential early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
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