Lord Lucan pictured as new parish councillor

Residents of a quiet seaside town were surprised when a parish council newsletter used a picture of Lord Lucan to accompany a piece introducing a new councillor.

The missing aristocrat’s picture alongside the name of retired lawyer Paul Ralph in the Bersted parish council newsletter was said to have come about as a result of a “joke that got out of hand”.

Mr Ralph told the Daily Mail he “laughed like a drain” when he saw the magazine. Brian Knight, 74, the leader of Bersted council, said: “It was just a joke that got out of hand, so we are just dismissing it now. It was a joke.”