The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (39 page)

Novarro had suffered two assaults in the end – the fatal beating meted out by the Fergusons and the attack he endured at the hands of the media, who, in one swift move, had transformed his
golden movie legacy into a life of sordid gay sex with male prostitutes.

If the media exposed him for the truth about his personal life, the Hollywood movie industry remembered him for his work. They awarded him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of
his contribution to film, his place in the history of movie making now secured, the proof of which is etched into the pavement at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard.

Richard John Bingham was the seventh Earl of Lucan and was born into an elite lifestyle. He had been brought up in the upper echelons of society, with all the privileges that
this could offer. So why on 8 November 1974 did he vanish from the face of the earth, leaving a trail of clues linking him to the murder of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, and the
horrific but not fatal attack on his estranged wife, Lady Veronica Lucan? To this day, some 30 years on, there has never been any contact with any of his three children, nor any firm corroborated
reported sighting of him. How can a man with so much disappear, taking so little?

The alarm was raised at around quarter to ten on the night of 7 November. The local public house the Plumber’s Arms, in Lower Belgrave Street (a very upmarket district of London), was
lucky to be having a busy night with its usual clientele enjoying a few drinks. The atmosphere in the bar immediately changed when a lady, dressed in her nightgown, burst through the doors covered
in blood. She staggered forward and shouted out, “Help me, help me, help me. I’ve just escaped from being murdered. He’s in the house. He’s murdered the nanny!” She
added, “My children, my children, please help me!” She then collapsed and was comforted by the staff from behind the bar. It was obvious that she had suffered a serious assault and the
police were called immediately. An ambulance was summoned for Lady Lucan and she was soon on her way to have her injuries treated at St George’s Hospital at Hyde Park Corner.

Two police officers, Constable Bedick and Sergeant Baker, were at 46 Lower Belgrave Street at around 10.10 p.m. When they arrived the front door was locked. They wasted no time in battering the
door down and found the house to be in complete darkness. They used their torches to illuminate the scene and it was soon apparent that a vicious attack had taken place. There were bloodstains on
the walls in the hallway. The basement door was open and they used their torches to light the staircase as the light was not working. At the foot of the basement stairs they saw a large pool of
blood. They rushed upstairs to the second floor, where they noticed a room with a shaft of light emanating from the gap where door meets threshold. Inside they found the three children, Lady
Frances, aged ten, Lord George, aged seven, and Lady Camilla, aged four. Although they were absolutely terrified, they were physically unharmed.

Relieved at the children’s safety, the policemen continued their search of the house. They went back downstairs into the breakfast room, and again found the walls splashed with blood. On
the floor was another pool of blood; they were able to see footprints in it, probably those of a man, judging by their size. From the breakfast room, they moved gingerly on to the kitchen and found
a large canvas sack with “US Mail” printed on the side. On closer inspection, it was obvious that blood had seeped through the thick material.

The sack was not secured tightly; the top was merely folded over. When the police officers looked inside, they found the battered body of Sandra Rivett. Initially they thought she may have been
alive, as her skin was still warm, but they soon realized that she had no pulse and was already dead. She appeared to have been battered around the head with a blunt instrument. After this grim
discovery, the officers resumed their search of the premises. In the hallway they came across a 9-inch length of lead pipe which had been wrapped in tape and was covered in bloodstains. It was
noted that the piping was badly bent out of shape. There were obvious signs of a struggle, with several pieces of broken crockery strewn around the floor. They also came across a lightbulb on one
of the basement chairs – possibly removed by the attacker, to enable them to remain unidentified, or so they might have been able to lie in wait in the darkness. The police also noted that
the back door of the property was not locked.

That evening, Lord Lucan was assumed to have paid a visit to Madeleine Floorman, who lived close to the Lucans, and was considered to be a good friend. At a little after 10 p.m. she was napping
in front of the television and was quickly woken when her doorbell chimed. It rang several times, and she thought it was probably a youngster playing a prank, so she chose to ignore it and dozed
off again. She was awoken again by ringing. This time it was the telephone. When she answered it, she was certain that the caller was Lord Lucan, although he sounded distressed and wasn’t
making sense. After failing to understand his ramblings, she put down the receiver and continued with her sleep.

Lucan’s mother, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was the next person he made contact with. He called her at around 10.30 in the evening, telling her that there had been a “terrible
catastrophe” at his house and that he needed her to go there and collect his children. Realizing that her son was in a frantic state, she immediately left her home in St John’s Wood and
went to his family home in Lower Belgrave Street to collect the children, as requested. When she arrived, she was shocked to find a full-blown police investigation taking place. She informed the
officers that the couple had been living apart and that her son was living in a flat which was close by. She then collected the children, who were by this time relieved to see a friendly face, and
took them back to her own house.

Lucan made a third telephone call – this time to his friend Bill Shand Kydd, who was married to Lady Lucan’s sister – but he could not get any reply. He then decided to make
the journey to Uckfield, Sussex to the home of his long-time friends, Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott. That night Lucan was driving the Ford Corsair which he had borrowed from his friend Michael Stoop,
as he was having trouble with the battery in his Mercedes. He arrived unannounced at around 11.30, looking rather dishevelled, which alarmed them as he was usually fastidious about his appearance.
Apparently he had spilled something on his flannels; Susan recalled that he looked quite damp around his hips, as though he had tried to sponge them clean.

They invited him in and offered him a drink. While he was with them, he explained that he had had an unbelievably nightmarish experience and went on to tell them that when he was passing by his
wife’s home he looked in through the basement window and was horrified to see that she was being attacked by a man. He raced into the house and the surprised attacker took flight and left the
property. Lucan then said that his wife became confused and blamed him for hiring somebody to attack her. When he had gone to fetch towels to dress her wounds, she too ran out of the house. Lucan
said that he was worried that she would blame him and tell the police that he was the person responsible for her injuries. He then said that he wanted to lie low for a while, hoping that the police
would find the real attacker. When he had regained some composure Lord Lucan again tried to telephone Bill Shand Kydd, but was still unable to get a reply. He then telephoned his mother to ask if
she had managed to collect his children. She confirmed that they were with her and that they police were also there. She asked if he wished to speak with them but he said that he would contact them
the following morning.

He wrote two letters, both addressed to Bill Shand Kydd at his Bayswater home. They were postmarked 8 November. His first one reads:

In the second letter, he seems to be more interested in his financial situation. This letter reads:

After he wrote the letters, his hosts asked him if he would like to stay the night and get some sleep, but he refused their hospitality and at around a quarter past one in the
morning set off, saying that he needed to “get back”. He was not seen again, and it wasn’t until Sunday 10 November that the police located the abandoned Ford Corsair. It was
found within 20 miles of his friend’s home in Sussex, close to the docks at Newhaven. On examination, the police noted that the car was heavily bloodstained. In the boot they found a large
piece of lead pipe, similar to that found at the murder scene. There was also a notepad, which it appeared Lucan used to write a note to his friend Michael (from whom he had borrowed the car). The
note reads:

As there has not been any further contact with Lucan, what happened to him can only be conjecture, but if he was an innocent man, and did come across an assailant attacking his
estranged wife, his actions did appear rather bizarre. He was obviously a well-known figure as he had been photographed numerous times and his face was instantly recognizable to anybody in Britain
who had ever read a tabloid paper. Could it be that he considered public opinion would be set against him before he had even had a chance to have his say? He knew only too well that mud sticks and
the tabloid press would be only too eager to start throwing it. In his letter to Michael, he made clear his views on the judicial system and didn’t seem to have much faith in receiving a fair
trial. This story would be big news and with his famous face he would not have stood a chance of going into hiding in the UK. Surely he would have considered himself to be safer in a place where he
was anonymous, if such a place existed?

A few days after the attack, Lady Lucan was able to give a statement to the police in which she described, in her own words, the events of the evening of 7 November. She pointed out that
Thursday was usually Sandra Rivett’s night off, but the two had come to an arrangement where Sandra had taken the previous night off to go out with her boyfriend. Sandra was 29 years old,
quite small, around 5 ft 2 inches (the same height as Lady Lucan) but slightly larger in build than her employer.

As usual, the two youngest children were put to bed at around 8.30 p.m. Ten minutes later, Frances went to her mother’s bedroom to ask where Sandra was and her mother explained that she
had gone to make her tea a little earlier than normal (usually, Lady Lucan made her own tea at around 9 p.m.). After a while, Lady Lucan started to wonder why Sandra was taking so long and decided
to go and investigate. She went downstairs to the basement kitchen, but noticed that the light was not on. She called the nanny’s name but didn’t get a reply. She tried the light switch
but it didn’t work. She then walked towards the cloakroom, as she thought that she could hear noises coming from that direction.

She was suddenly aware of a heavy blow to her head and cried out in pain. She remembered a deep voice commanding her to keep quiet, while the blows to her head continued. She was struggling to
escape from her attacker when a gloved hand grabbed her by the neck, trying to strangle her, and gloved fingers were forced down her throat. She also recalled that her attacker tried to gouge out
her eyes. She was a small woman but was not prepared to be defeated easily, as she was well aware that she was fighting for her life. In a frantic bid to incapacitate her attacker, she grasped his
testicles and squeezed them for all she was worth. This did the trick and her assailant fell to the floor.

She was sure that her attacker was her husband. She said that he had admitted killing the nanny, as he had mistaken her for Veronica. She tried to calm her husband down and talked to him, trying
to gain his confidence, implying that it would be a long time before anybody missed Sandra. She said they discussed hiding the body and concocting a story that her injuries were those sustained
during a failed house burglary. Lucan said that she should get some sleep and recommended that she took some sleeping tablets. Feeling that she was in no position to argue, she agreed, adding that
she might be better off in her own bedroom. The two made their way upstairs. When they arrived at her bedroom, Lady Frances was still there, and she was instructed to return to her own bedroom.
Lord and Lady Lucan went into the bathroom to assess her injuries and decided to use towels to act as a bandage. When Lord Lucan went off in search of more towels Lady Lucan seized her chance and
raced downstairs and out of the front door to raise the alarm.