SANDRA Rivett was the nanny to Lord Lucan and Veronica Duncan’s children, before she was murdered by the aristocrat at the age of 29.
A BBC documentary hosted by Sandra’s secret son will dive into her terrifying death and hopes to uncover where her killer escaped to.
Sandra had two children before her death
Lucan murdered Sandra when she was just 29-years-oldGetty Images
Untethered upbringing
Sandra was born on September 16, 1945, and moved with her family to Australia when she was two years old.
They returned to England in 1955 and she grew to become a secretary and an apprentice hairdresser.
After a voluntary stint in a mental hospital in Surrey, she got engaged to a builder named John with whom she had a son named Stephen.
She considered giving Stephen up for adoption but her son was eventually raised by her parents.
Murder in Belgravia
Sandra’s marriage to John broke down and she eventually took a job with the Lucan family in West London.
By this time, Lord Lucan and his wife Veronica had split up after ten years of marriage.
Veronica asked Sandra to make her a cup of tea, which required Sandra to go into the basement, but said she became suspicious when the nanny did not return.
When Veronica went downstairs to investigate, she was attacked by her husband.
She managed to fight him off, but discovered that Lucan had murdered Sandra moments before.
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Veronica ran into a nearby pub, called the Plumbers Arms, where she called for help.
The aristocrat’s ex-wife was covered in blood, prompting the police to rush to her home where Sandra’s body was found in a sack.
An investigation uncovered that Sandra had been dead before she was hidden in the sack but Lucan had already disappeared by the time that the investigation had begun.
Lucan fled to his friends’ home in Sussex, before disappearing entirely.
The Maxwell-Scott family, whom he had been staying with, insisted that he did not commit the crime and said that Lucan had prevented another man (who had already murdered Sandra) from killing Veronica.
The attempt to cover Lucan’s tracks was unsuccessful and an inquest found, within 31 minutes, that the missing aristocrat was behind the attack.
Sandra’s son Neil will appear in the BBC documentaryPA: Press Association
A BBC documentary
The BBC documentary Lucan is focused on Sandra’s second child Neil Berriman, who didn’t even know that Sandra was his mother until he turned forty.
Neil has said that he hopes to shine a new light on the case and shared that he wants to uncover where Lucan might have escaped to.
Talking about his mother, he said: “She’s the mother I never knew, but that makes no difference.
“Sandra is still my mum and I will do the best I can for her.”
The BBC documentary will kick off on November 6, 2024, as a three part series.
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