Death certificate granted for Lord Lucan 42 years after disappearance

The only son of missing peer Lord Lucan has finally been granted a death certificate, 42 years after his father vanished following the murder of his nanny.

Lord George Bingham applied for the certificate under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect in 2014, to enable him to inherit the title as 8th Earl.

His father vanished after Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found murdered at the family home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, London, on November 7, 1974.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Asplin granted the certificate at a hearing on Wednesday.

The judge made the declaration that Lord Lucan is presumed dead on the basis that she was satisfied that he had not been known to be alive for a period of at least seven years.

Lord Bingham said afterwards: "I am very happy with the judgment of the court in this matter. It has been a very long time coming."

At a hearing in December, Miss Rivett's son Neil Berriman was given permission to intervene in the case.

But speaking after today's ruling, Mr Berriman, 49, said: "I think he's (Lucan) dead. It is fantastic and I am very pleased for him (Bingham)."

Although Lord Lucan was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, there have been reported sightings in Australia, Ireland, Africa and New Zealand - and even claims that he fled to India, living as a hippy called "Jungly Barry".

Lord Bingham argued that the 1999 declaration had not proved death "for all purposes" and the new Presumption of Death Act allowed for a "more complete process".

On the night of the peer's disappearance, the nanny's attacker also turned on Lord Bingham's mother, Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she escaped and raised the alarm.

Lord Lucan's car was found abandoned and soaked in blood in East Sussex. An inquest jury declared him the killer a year later.