The bloodstained murder weapon used by aristocrat killer Lord Lucan to bludgeon his family nanny to death has been revealed for the first time.
Lord Lucan went on the run after nanny Sandra Rivett was battered to death and his estranged wife Veronica suffered serious head wounds in their house.
It will be 50 years on Wednesday years since the murder in London‘s Belgravia that scandalised Britain and shocked the world.
Photos of the weapon have been released to the public and show two pieces of lead piping inside a bloodstained mailbag in which the body of Rivett was hidden.
TV crime programme producer Sandy Kaye took the photos in 1983 while visiting a museum, and the BBC is now running three documentaries this week examining whether Lucan managed to escape the UK, reported the Daily Mirror.
For the first time, photos of the weapon used in the murder (pictured) have been released to the public
TV crime programme producer Sandy Kaye took the photos in 1983 after visiting the Black Museum
It has been almost 50 years since British aristocrat Lord Lucan (pictured), 39, vanished without a trace
He disappeared after Nanny Sandra Rivett (pictured) was bludgeoned to death in the family home
Kaye said: ‘I’ve kept this photo safe for 41 years – but now it’s time for the world to see it. It’s such an important part of British crime history.’
The photos have been locked up in a safe since Kaye took them on Friday, March 25, 1983.
She said after visiting the Black Museum – which houses Scotland Yard’s infamous collection of crime memorabilia – she was asked by police contacts if she would like to see ‘something special’.
Speaking on the experience, she said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when he went to a cupboard and opened the door and brought out the artefacts concerning the Lord Lucan case.
‘I was looking at a bloodstained USA mailbag and metal rods that were allegedly used by Lord Lucan.
The Plumbers Arms, where Lady Lucan ran to after finding Sandra dead in her house
Lord Lucan’s wife Veronica Mary Duncan (pictured here with him) suffered a near-fatal assault on the same night
‘It was a shocking moment. I asked permission, and I was allowed to take a photo. But I was allowed to take one photo – one only.’
However, the murder weapon and the mailbag went missing some years ago. Neil Berriman, Rivett’s son has asked about their whereabouts but was told they were unknown.
The Lucan story is one of the most enduring criminal cases in British legal history.
There has been no confirmed sighting of Lucan since a few hours after the Rivett murder on November 7, 1974.
On the fateful night, it is alleged that he planned to kill his wife Veronica – she had gained custody of their three young children after a bitter High-Court battle – by lying in wait for her in the basement of the family home at 46 Lower Belgrave St.
Neil Berriman, Rivett’s son has asked about the whereabouts of the murder weapon but was told it had gone missing
Police dog handlers search for Lord Lucan on the downs above Newhaven Harbour
He struck out with lead piping before stuffing the body into a US mail bag. But the woman he killed was the couple’s 29-year-old nanny, Sandra Rivett, who was due to have been on a day off.
She had swapped days at the last minute. Lady Lucan was also attacked but managed to escape, running screaming for help to a nearby pub, covered in blood.
Lord Lucan, then 39, drove to a friend’s house in a sleepy Sussex village where he claimed that Veronica had been attacked by a stranger and he needed to lie low because she had previously accused him of hiring a hitman and would blame him.
Rumours have suggested that Lucan managed to escape to Australia with the help of rich friends and if still alive he would now be 89.
In 1974, Sandra signed up with a domestic agency and got a job in the Lucan house (pictured). But 10 weeks later, she was dead
Lord Lucan was looking for his estranged wife Veronica after a bitter argument, and entered a dark basement and hit her with a lead pipe, but it was Sandra, not Veronica
Kaye believes Lucan had successfully escaped she added: ‘His friends were among the ‘creme de la creme’ of British society.
‘My gut feeling is that he escaped the UK after the murder of the nanny – but how it happened perhaps we will never know.’
‘The story was huge at the time. I’ve always been fascinated with the case. It’s amazing we are still talking about it 50 years on.’
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘The investigation into the death of Sandra Rivett remains open as is the case with all unsolved murders.
‘Any significant new information or investigative opportunities that may progress the investigation, will accordingly be considered by the Met.’
Lucan begins on BBC Two this Wednesday at 9pm
