THE TRIAL OF LORD LUCAN FINALE – A Tsunami Of Prejudice: Defence questions whether Lord Lucan could ever get a fair trial after being ‘vilified’ and ‘convicted countless times’ already. Listen and then cast your final verdict
The Mail’s brilliant new podcast was released last week The trial of Lord Lucan had unraveled one of the biggest crime mysteries ever with extraordinary new evidence.
In episodes released daily from Monday, June 3 to Friday, June 7, two leading real-life lawyers argued whether Lord Lucan was innocent or guilty using a new document and unheard evidence in an unmissable twist on courtroom drama.
The Lord Lucan case is one of the world’s most enduring crime mysteries. November 7 marks 50 years since the 39-year-old British aristocrat disappeared without a trace within hours of the murder of his nanny Sandra Rivett, 29, and the near-fatal attack on his wife Veronica, who told police she was at Eton trained. husband was responsible for both attacks.
Police have long believed Lucan murdered mother-of-two Mrs Rivett in the basement kitchen of his family’s five-storey Belgravia home in Central. London, after mistaking her for his estranged wife. His three children were upstairs.
IS LORD LUCAN GUILTY? GIVE YOUR JUDGMENT NOW:
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It’s been almost fifty years since British aristocrat Lord Lucan, 39, disappeared without a trace
Lawyer Edward Henry KC (left) and prosecutor Max Hardy (right)
The Count disappeared after his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was murdered in the family home
Lord Lucan’s wife Veronica Mary Duncan was almost fatally attacked that same night
Today, in his closing speech, barrister Edward Henry KC calls on jurors to judge the case on ‘the evidence, and the evidence alone’, saying Lord Lucan had fallen victim to a ‘tsunami of prejudice’.
“This is perhaps the most infamous murder accusation of modern times,” he added, conceding that the “odds are stacked against his client.”
But while he questions whether Lucan could ever get a fair trial, he argues that the prosecution is “steeped in prejudice.”
“Lord Lucan was convicted numerous times before he even walked into this courtroom. He has been vilified… slandered in the press, the media and on the internet all his life – decade after decade before this trial.
“How do you get this out of your mind, jurors?”
Mr Henry disputes the Crown’s case that Lucan had mistaken Sandra Rivett for his ‘waif-like’, ‘elf-like’ wife – saying the pair looked very different physically.
“It points to a stranger, it points to an intruder,” he declares. ‘This could have just been a failed burglary’
Lady Lucan with Frances and George, two of the three children she had with her husband
The blood-soaked basement with Sandra Rivett’s body in a mailbag next to a discarded shoe
Nanny Sandra Rivett was beaten to death
The Plumbers Arms, where Lady Lucan ran after finding Sandra Rivett dead in her home
Susan Maxwell-Scott with her husband William. She was the last person to see Lord Lucan alive
He reminds the jury that the burden is on the prosecution to prove guilt, and he claims the Crown’s case doesn’t hold water.
Lucan clearly adored his children, Mr Henry says, so it is difficult to understand why he would kill their mother and then leave them in the house to go to the Clermont Club, a gambling venue in Mayfair to create an alibi.
The reason he fled the house after his wife raised the alarm at The Plumbers Arms can be attributed to the ‘painful situation he found himself in’, the QC said.
After interrupting the attack on his wife, he became the target of a false accusation and “with his tongue tied,” and fled the scene in fear. It is a false accusation that “shaped his life”, he insists, warning the jury of the dangers of believing Lady Lucan.
He says Lady Lucan harbored an ‘irreconcilable, unwavering hostility towards the defendant – she shouted at him that he had ‘paid a man to kill her’ – and that she was a ‘severely hostile and dangerous witness’.
“Doesn’t she have an ax to grind?” he asks, addressing the enmity between the Lucans.
Mr Henry also described the forensic evidence at the murder scene as a ‘fiasco’ due to contamination.
Listen to The trial of Lord Lucan hereand also wherever you normally get your podcasts.
