Lord Lucan sighting: A clever publicity stunt?
AUCKLAND – It may just be a smart publicity stunt by those clever people at Tourism New Zealand, but there are reports today that British fugitive Lord Lucan is living like a grumpy old man in New Zealand.
Lucan, who would now be 72, vanished after the 1974 killing of his children’s nanny and hasn’t been seen since.
There have been regular reported sightings of him in Australia, Holland, Ireland and South Africa.
The Melbourne Age newspaper today reports claims that the disgraced English peer is living rough in Marton on New Zealand’s North Island in an old Land Rover with a cat and a pet possum.
Detective Inspector Sidney Ball, who solved more than 150 murders for Scotland Yard before retiring to New Zealand, is leading the hunt on behalf of a TV company.
In true ex-sleuth fashion, Ball said, “I can’t say more until I’ve completed my investigation.”
Rangitikei Mayor Bob Buchanan added to the mystery by saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he is Lucan. There’s quite a resemblance. And although he lives only about 10 minutes out of Marton, his mail goes to a PO box in Palmerston North.”
Neighbours say the man has an upper-class English accent and a military bearing like Lord Lucan, who was educated at Eton before serving in the Coldstream Guards.
He is said to have arrived in New Zealand about the time Lucan disappeared and is also understood to be receiving money from property he owns in Britain.
Lucan’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death in London at the West End home of Lucan’s estranged wife, multi-millionaire Lady Lucan.
Ian Jarrett
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