Lord Lucan murder mystery hint as weapon used to kill nanny seen for first time

A half century on from a murder scandal that rocked British high society and saw the handsome Lord Lucan disappear, the weapon used in the slaying has been seen for the first time

This extraordinary photo is the first time the murder weapon used by Lord Lucan to kill his family nanny has ever been seen.

Two pieces of lead piping are lying on a bloodstained mailbag in which the body of nanny Sandra Rivett was hidden after the attack. The photo was taken 41 years ago inside Scotland Yard’s Black Museum.

On Wednesday it will be 50 years since the notorious attack in which the family nanny Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death before Lucan disappeared in a crime that shocked the world.

The BBC are running three documentaries this week examining whether Lucan, who would now be 89, managed to escape the UK fleeing to live in Australia with the help of rich friends. Back in 1974 police believed he planned to murder his wife but mistakenly killed Sandra.

The photo was taken by respected TV crime programme producer Sandy Kaye, who worked on shows like Police 5 and Crimestoppers, as part of her research for a documentary series. What is incredible to see is the lack of care shown to such crucial pieces of evidence. The police officer handling the two items is not wearing any gloves and there is no attempt to preserve them from any sort of cross contamination.

Kaye’s reputation gained her privileged access to Scotland Yard’s infamous museum having exclusive rights to film inside. She said: “I’ve kept this photo safe for 41 years - but now it’s time for the world to see it. It’s such an important part of British crime history.”

It was taken on Friday 25th March 1983 - which Kaye noted in her diary - and the slide has been locked up in a safe since then. Kaye, a former member of BAFTA, took it when she gained the trust of museum staff while working with Police.

She said: “I was always over at the Black Museum as it was called then. I was allowed frequent access, at that time I was working on Police 5 and we had a close relationship with the Department of Public Affairs so I was constantly in and out. I went over to meet police contacts who actually became very dear friends. I vividly remember one Friday afternoon when we finished work and they opened a bottle and I was asked if I would like to see something special. I had no idea what he was talking about.”

“I couldn’t believe it when he went to a cupboard and opened the door and brought out the artefacts concerning the Lord Lucan case. I was looking at a bloodstained USA mailbag and metal rods that were allegedly used by Lord Lucan. It was a shocking moment. I asked permission, and I was allowed to take a photo. But I was allowed to take one photo - one only.”

“But even then, in my gut, I realised it could be an important and significant picture. In those days Scotland Yard had a photo processing unit and I asked them to develop the film. When I got the slides back there were several pictures of other artefacts connected with the museum. Then there was this Lucan one. Eventually I put the slide into a safe at my lawyer’s office. For almost all of the last 41 years it has been kept in a safe.”

Sandy added: “I’ve kept diaries every year since 1963. I wrote about events of each day and on this day on March 25th 1983 I noted that I had taken the Lucan photo (and also that my car was taken to the garage!) It brings back incredible memories looking at that particular diary entry which read took photo of Lord Lucan USA Bag & Rod.”

In the book Looking for Lucan: The Final Verdict, the author, ex chief superintendent Roy Ranson, confirmed there were two pieces of lead piping. He recalled how he arrived at the seaside port of Newhaven where Lucan’s car had been found. He wrote: “The interior of the boot was a jumble of vital evidence. The centrepiece was a length of lead piping, covered in surgical tape, which appeared to me to be similar in almost every respect to the murder weapon I had seen just three nights before lying in the ground floor hallway where Lady Lucan had been attacked. The only apparent difference was that it was some three or four inches longer.”

The current whereabouts of the murder weapon and the mailbag remains unknown. When Neil Berriman, Rivett’s son, whose hunt for Lucan is at the centre of the BBC series, asked about them some years ago he was told they had gone missing.

Kaye, now 80, has retired to Spain where she is a part-time volunteer for Age Concern. She was producer on the ITV show Police 5, and the Managing Director of the company which produced Crimestoppers She was also Executive Producer on two special documentaries on The Black Museum.

On 6th September 1988 there was a VIP screening when they went out on network ITV. The Met Commissioner Sir Peter Imbert was among a host of senior officers who attended at Scotland Yard She said: “I worked closely with the hierarchy of Scotland Yard. They were really pleased with the documentaries that I produced and delighted that it went out on the network. I had the exclusive rights from Scotland Yard to film within the museum.”

The documentary series was called: “New Scotland Yard’s Museum of Crime”. The first episode was called “invitation to the Black Museum” and the second “Inside the Black Museum.”

In 1991 Kaye was pictured outside Scotland Yard with senior officer Sir John Dellow presenting him with a cheque for £2000. She said: “It was a donation to help the Met Police open a new museum which would have given the public access. I have no idea what they did with the money. They certainly haven’t used it for what it was intended for. In fact I have recently asked for it back.”

The Black Museum, founded in 1874, was renamed the Crime Museum several years ago but remains closed to the public.

Kaye was such a respected female crime TV producer that she was later invited by Cunard to give lectures on the QEII. In a flyer Cunard invited passengers: “At 2.30pm in the theatre: “Museum of Crime: Inside the Black Museum” an informal lecture by Sandy Kaye, film producer.” She said: “I really enjoyed doing the lectures - it was a privilege to share what I had learned during my years at the museum.”

In an incredible twist Kaye had actually met Lucan the year before his disappearance. She recalled: “Life is very strange. I did meet Lord Lucan once. It was back in 1973 and I was with the late chef Albert Roux who invited me to dinner at Annabel’s. He was a personal friend and it was my first time in Annabel’s.”

Lucan said 'hello' to Albert and Albert introduced me to this tall elegant man “I went to Annabel’s perhaps half a dozen times. It was a restaurant and club with a small dance floor and a casino upstairs where Lucan used to gamble. It was a members only club. It was beautiful, a magnificent place full of elegant people.”

Kaye said she believed Lucan had successfully escaped. She said: “His friends were among the ‘creme de la creme’ of British society. They had all sorts of means to help him and I’m sure they helped him disappear. My gut feeling is that he escaped the UK after the murder of the nanny - but how it happened perhaps we will never know.”

“The story was huge at the time. I’ve always been fascinated with the case. It’s amazing we are still talking about it 50 years on.”

A spokesman for the Met said: “The investigation into the death of Sandra Rivett remains open as is the case with all unsolved murders. Any significant new information or investigative opportunities that may progress the investigation, will accordingly be considered by the Met.”