Innocent or guilty? You’ve heard barristers argue the Lucan case… now listen to the verdict on Mail’s chart-topping podcast The Trial of Lord Lucan
After a week of moving testimonies and debates, listeners listened to Mail’s groundbreaking podcast The Trial of Lord Lucan have pronounced their verdict.
From 6am today, a special episode of the hit series will reveal whether the 7th Earl of Lucan is guilty or innocent of the murder of his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett and the attempted murder of his estranged wife Veronica.
At the end of the trial on Friday, spectators were invited to join an online jury to decide whether the peer was responsible for the horror attacks almost 50 years ago.
The response was astonishing: by yesterday’s deadline at noon, many thousands had voted, underscoring the overwhelming success of the podcast, which rocketed to number one on the Apple and Spotify WHERE crime charts after launch.
It has also established itself in the top ten of all podcasts in Britain.
It’s been almost fifty years since British aristocrat Lord Lucan, 39, disappeared without a trace
The Count disappeared after his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was murdered in the family home
The blood-soaked basement with Sandra Rivett’s body in a mailbag next to a discarded shoe
Barrister Max Hardy (right) is prosecuting Lord Lucan at the trial, while Edward Henry KC is acting on behalf of the defence
The series is inspired by a globally exclusive police report, obtained by the Mail, which detailed the case against the infamous Count, who disappeared within hours of Ms Rivett’s murder on November 7, 1974.
New episodes every day last week detailed how an Old Bailey trial of Lord Lucan, pictured, could have unfolded had he been captured.
Two of Britain’s most eminent lawyers presented the prosecution and defense cases as the earl stood trial for the death of Mrs Rivett and the attack on Lady Lucan, with whom he was involved in a custody battle over their three children.
After decades of speculation, the evidence was uncovered after the Mail obtained a previously confidential 1975 Scotland Yard report detailing the Crown’s case.
The story shocked Britain when Lord Lucan, allegedly aided by his powerful friends, went on the run after the family nanny, Mrs Rivett, 29, was beaten to death with a lead pipe in the basement kitchen of his Belgravia country house. Lady Lucan – believed to be the intended victim – suffered serious head injuries.
As Max Hardy, for the prosecution, explained, Lucan was solely responsible for the horrific attacks. He planned the murder in painstaking detail, he says, even discussing dumping his wife’s body in the River Solent.
For the defence, Edward Henry KC urged jurors to judge the case on the evidence alone, saying Lord Lucan ‘has been maligned’.
To hear the special pronunciation episode, visit dailymail.co.uk/lucan.
