20/06/2026 12:58 - Internacionales
Silueta elegante masculina de los años 70 con sombrero caminando hacia la oscuridad frente a una mansion victoriana londinense de ladrillo rojo. Atmósfera de misterio con niebla y luz tenue de farol antiguos.
On November 7, 1974, John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, committed one of the most notorious crimes in British history. At number 46 Lower Belgrave Street, in the exclusive Belgravia district of London, he murdered Sandra Rivett, 29, the nanny to his children.
Lord Lucan, a 40-year-old aristocrat well-known in London's high society circles, had devised a plan to kill his wife Veronica Duncan, from whom he had separated in January 1973 after marrying in 1963. However, in the darkness of the night, he mistook the nanny for his wife and beat her to death.
Veronica arrived minutes later and was brutally attacked by Lucan, but she managed to survive and escape to raise the alarm. The Earl fled the scene and was never seen again.
On June 19, 1975, a British court declared Lord Lucan guilty of Sandra Rivett's murder in record time: just 31 minutes of deliberation. This was the last time his name appeared in an official judicial record.
British justice convicted him in absentia, something uncommon but permitted when the accused is a fugitive. Since then, his case has become one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in the United Kingdom.
Veronica Duncan (1937-2017), the surviving widow, paid a high price. She lost custody of her three children and spent decades fighting to rebuild her life. She died in 2017 without having obtained definitive answers.
The children of the marriage, raised by relatives, grew up without knowing what had become of their father. Some lawyers maintain that the case remains technically open.
The Lord Lucan case inspired books, documentaries, and television series. It represents a dark chapter in British aristocracy, where an Earl with access to London's most exclusive circles committed a brutal crime and then vanished completely.
To this day, the British Crown Prosecution Service keeps the case open. In 2016, a family court officially declared Lord Lucan dead, allowing his eldest son to inherit the title of Earl.
Context for International Readers: The title "Earl" is a rank in the British peerage system, equivalent to a Count in other European countries. Belgravia is one of London's most affluent districts, known for its grand white stucco houses and proximity to Buckingham Palace.
Source: La Nación
Alfredo S. Quiroga
