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From: C-reuters@clarinet.com (Reuter / Lyndsay Griffiths)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.uk,clari.news.crime.murders
Subject: Britain's mystery Lord Lucan back in the news
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 95 9:00:11 PDT

LONDON (Reuter) - Suspected murderer ``Lucky'' Lord Lucan vanished 21 years ago but Britain's most famous fugitive was back in the news Sunday when newspapers said police suspect the elusive earl may be hiding in southern Africa.

Lucan disappeared in 1974, penniless and without a passport, after his children's nanny was found bludgeoned to death. Two decades later, the earl is still accused of killing Sandra Rivett and of attempting to murder his wife, Veronica.

Numerous sightings of the handsome earl have been claimed over the years -- gambling in Botswana or backpacking on Mount Etna, Sicily -- but now, police are back on his trail.

The newspapers said that detectives, who have never closed the books on the Lucan case, are suspicious about the frequent trips his children are making to southern Africa.

``Scotland Yard detectives, convinced that the elusive seventh earl is still alive, believe that his three children may be visiting him in Africa,'' said the Observer newspaper.

Police refused to comment on this, the latest chapter in a story full of mystery, gore and aristocratic disgrace.

Lucan's son, Lord Bingham, called the story ``preposterous.'' But the papers said police were monitoring the children's travel arrangements in the hope they lead to the long-sought father, with the main focus falling on his eldest daughter Lady Frances.

``There is a possible connection between South Africa and Botswana and the children traveling there,'' the Observer quoted one police source as saying. ``I know that Frances is going to South Africa a lot. We are having a look at it at the moment.''

Amid all the claims and counter-claims -- there are few in Britain who would not recognize the moustachioed face that fled -- this much is known about the celebrated case.

Fact: the family's 29-year-old nanny was brutally murdered Nov. 8, 1974, after being attacked with lead piping in the Lucans' luxurious London home.

Fact: Lady Lucan, believed by police to have been the target of the attack, was badly injured when she went to investigate.

Fact: her husband, a renowned gambler and socialite who had fallen into debt and drifted from his wife, left letters protesting his innocence and then vanished without trace.

Friends say he committed suicide and his family has sought to declare him dead, allowing them to inherit his estate.

But police aren't convinced and have just appointed a new investigator in their determination to crack the case.

``Obviously, finding Lucan would be the greatest coup for any detective,'' a senior police source told the Sunday Express.

So the murder investigation goes on, even though the earl, now in his 60s, would have a circle of friends loyal enough and rich enough to provide him with a brand new start.

From: C-ap@clarinet.com (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.uk,clari.news.crime.murders
Distribution: clari.apo
Subject: Report: Police Suspect Earl
Copyright: 1995 by The Associated Press, R Date: Sun, 10 Sep 95 10:30:10 PDT

LONDON (AP) -- Police believe that Lord Lucan, the British aristocrat who vanished in 1974 after his children's nanny was bludgeoned to death, may be living in southern Africa and are monitoring trips there by the children, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Observer quoted a recently retired Scotland Yard detective who led the long-standing murder inquiry from 1990 as saying that trailing the Lucan children abroad was hampered by lack of funds.

Lord Bingham, 28, Lucan's son and heir, dismissed as absurd the suggestion that he or his sisters, Lady Frances, a 31-year-old London lawyer, and Lady Camilla, 25, were visiting their father.

A spokeswoman at Scotland Yard refused to confirm or deny the report.

The Observer quoted retired Detective Superintendent Alec Edwards as saying there were ``influential people who would rather he wasn't found.''

``If you had detectives following people from one country to another in the hope of finding one guy alleged to have murdered his nanny 20-odd years ago, you could imagine the counterpublicity that could generate,'' said Edwards.

The Lucan nanny, Sandra Rivett, was battered to death in a dark basement at their London home Nov. 7, 1974. Police suspect Lucan mistook the nanny for his estranged wife, Veronica, who he then attacked and seriously injured.

Lucan, a self-described professional gambler, was last seen alive at Uckfield, on Britain's south coast, later that day. A car he had borrowed was abandoned 18 miles away.

He is still sought on a murder warrant, the first ever issued for a British peer.