THE TRIAL OF LORD LUCAN, DAY TWO - Prosecution Opening Statement: Gambling addict 'plotted murder to ease his finances and rid himself of his estranged wife'... and his daughter, 10, was a crucial witness in the case

Last week the Mail revealed a bombshell new document that sets out the case against Lord Lucan.

The Lord Lucan case is one of the world’s most enduring crime mysteries. It will be 50 years this November 7 since the 39-year-old British aristocrat vanished without trace within hours of the murder of his nanny Sandra Rivett, 29, and the near fatal assault on his estranged wife Veronica, who told police her Eton-educated husband was responsible for both attacks.

Police have long believed that Lucan killed mother-of-two Mrs Rivett in the basement kitchen of his family’s five-storey Belgravia home in Central London, after mistaking her for his wife. His three young children were upstairs.

Today on the forensically detailed podcast The Trial Of Lord Lucan - in which two real-life eminent barristers will argue whether Lord Lucan was innocent or guilty using the bombshell new document and unheard-of evidence in an unmissable twist on courtroom drama - senior barrister Max Hardy takes on the role of the Prosecutor.

After analysing the original 60-page Scotland Yard report on the 1974 case, and studying contemporaneous statements, letters, books and other evidence, Mr Hardy states why he believes Lucan — and Lucan alone — was responsible for the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett and the near fatal attack on his wife.

In doing so, he explains the peer’s background and how he had the means, motive and wherewithal to carry out the atrocities. 

His downfall, says Mr Hardy, started after he gave up a well-paid job in banking ‘for what many believed to be the easy road to riches: gambling, racing, horses, and powerboats, bobsleigh and winter sports. All pursuits befitting his beliefs about his status and place in society’.

By 1974, gambling was Lucan’s full-time occupation, says Mr Hardy, ‘but it did not provide an income for the life Lord Lucan wanted’. It did not even provide the funds for family essentials. The milk bill went unpaid. The family account for groceries from Harrods was cancelled. The nanny agency was chasing payments. The reality is that despite Lord Lucan’s distinguished pedigree, good looks and military bearing, he was no different to any other addict labouring under the delusion that he could beat the bank.

It was then, says Mr Hardy, that Lucan plotted murder to ease his finances and rid himself of his estranged wife, who had custody of their three children.

‘Lady Lucan knows exactly who murdered Sandra Rivett and attempted to murder her because fortunately, she lived to tell the tale,’ says the barrister. ‘And within minutes of being attacked, she was able to flee to a place of refuge, The Plumbers Arms public house, just 100 yards away to make her accusation.’

And Mr Hardy says there is another crucial witness in the case: Lucan’s own daughter Lady Frances, aged 10, who was at home on the night in question and saw — or heard — some of the drama.

Listen to The Trial of Lord Lucan here, as well as everywhere you usually get your podcasts.