The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Lady Lucan, wife of peer who vanished, found dead at home
Police force entry to home of 80-year-old after friend’s concerns
Lady Lucan, whose husband famously vanished more than four decades ago, has been found dead at home.
Police forced entry to the 80-year-old’s home in Westminster on Tuesday afternoon after she was reported missing, and found her unresponsive.
Her son George Bingham, the 8th Earl Lucan, told the Daily Mail: “She passed away yesterday at home, alone and apparently peacefully.
“Police were alerted by a companion to a three-day absence and made entry today.”
Lady Lucan was one of the last people to see her husband John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, alive before he disappeared.
He vanished after the murdered body of Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found at the family home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on November 7 1974.
Even though he was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, Lord Lucan has reportedly been sighted in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand.
The same night as his disappearance, the attacker also turned on Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub.
Lucan’s car was later found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer the killer a year later.
Earlier this year, Lady Lucan, formally named Veronica, Dowager Countess of Lucan, gave a television interview in which she said she believed Lord Lucan had made the “brave” decision to take his own life.
During the ITV programme she spoke of her own depression and her husband’s violent nature following their marriage in 1963.