The earl who vanished in 1974

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IT was one of the big scoops of the year. In an exclusive that had the world’s media chomping at the bit, the Extra revealed in October 2015 how Lord Lucan’s son and heir was launching a High Court legal challenge to get his father “presumed dead”.

George Bingham took out an advert in our paper in a legal bid he hoped would, finally, lead to a death certificate being issued that could mean him inheriting the missing earl’s title and taking his place in the House of Lords.

In one of the country’s most enduring mysteries, Mr Bingham’s father – Lord Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan – vanished without a trace in 1974. His disappearance followed the murder of Sandra Rivett, the nanny of his three children, who died after being bludgeoned with a lead pipe in the Lucan’s family home in Belgrave Street, Belgravia.

Mr Bingham, who had previously questioned whether his father was responsible for the murder, told the Extra at the time he was seeking “closure”. His father had been declared dead for financial inheritance during probate, but Mr Bingham’s attempts to take his father’s hereditary seat was blocked by parliamentary authorities.

The Extra exclusive is featured in Lucan, a three-part BBC series to mark the 50th anniversary of the disappearance.

The Extra’s October 2015 exclusive report

The first episode, screened this week on television and available on BBC iPlayer, follows the story of builder Neil Berriman who discovers he is the son of the murdered nanny.

He and investigative journalist Glen Campbell set out to solve the mystery that has gripped the nation for decades.

Sightings of Lucan have been reported as far afield as New Zealand, India and South Africa, but all have proved false leads.

In 2002 Mr Campbell acquired an intelligence report from a top source that reveals clues that Lord Lucan may be leading a secret life in Africa, under the name “John Crawford”.

Mr Campbell said: “George wanted his father declared dead. He put a tiny little advert in the West End Extra [now Westminster Extra], an application for the granting of a presumption death certificate.

“He rejected my report that said he and his sister were flown out to Africa, so his father could watch over them from afar.”

Murdered nanny Sandra Rivett, pictured above, and her son Neil Berriman, below

The show features footage of Mr Bingham saying he believed his father had died in a boat he had sunk himself in the English Channel.

But Mr Berriman adds in the documentary: “I didn’t think he was dead, I didn’t want him declared dead.

“We sat in the High Court. The judge asked if there was something I wanted to say. I said I believe he was alive in 2004. George’s face went like stone. He said where have you got this information, I said it’s a confidential police report. Everything went silent. He said ‘do you have it?’ I said ‘no’.”

Mr Campbell said he would not allow Mr Berriman to reveal the report to the court as it would betray his confidential source.

Mr Berriman appears frustrated by this in the programme, and he says: “Can you imagine what the impact of that would have been?”

In the absence of any new evidence, the High Court declared Lord Lucan dead, with Mr Bingham shown outside the court telling reporters he hoped “everyone can move on and find a new Loch Ness Monster or something”.

Despite being named “Lucky”, Lord Lucan had racked up large betting losses after switching careers from merchant banking to professional gambling, spending many nights at the Claremont Club, a private casino in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, run by zoo owner John Aspinall.

A coroner’s jury found him guilty of murder in his absence.

Mr Bingham said in a past interview: “I naively believed as I, and the story, grew older it would fall away. But with the passage of time, it has become bigger and easier to fabricate complete nonsense and create lies around it, with fewer people around to contradict it.”

The BBC documentary explores the mental toll of investigating the Lucan case on Mr Berriman and his family, including the impact of the High Court’s decision.

“We’re too involved with it now, you can’t stop something you are too involved in. It’s not like a tap you can turn off. We are past the point of no return. To catch a criminal you have to think like a criminal.”

At the end of episode one, he adds: “You know what, let’s go get this f**ker.”