Cluedo cards ‘found in Lord Lucan’s car’ may shed light on nanny’s murder

Jump to contentSign up to our newslettersSubscribeNewsSportsVoicesCultureLifestyleTravelPremiumThree cards from the murder mystery game Cluedo were found in Lord Lucan’s abandoned car by police investigating the killing of his nanny, it has been claimed.The Earl went on the run in 1974, after 29-year-old Sandra Rivett was found dead at his home in London, having been bludgeoned with a lead pipe.Rivett’s body was discovered in the basement kitchen of the Eton-educated aristocrat’s home in Belgravia, where his estranged wife Veronica also accused him of brutally attacking her in a similar fashion.The murder – and the whereabouts of the British peer named Richard John Bingham – have been a subject of mystery ever since, with supposed sightings of him reported across the world for decades.While Lord Lucan was declared legally dead in 1999, his body has never been found, and Scotland Yard is reported to have carried out a cold case review into Rivett’s murder in 2004.Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to deathNow the Daily Mail reports that officers investigating the case discovered three Cluedo cards – depicting the character Colonel Mustard, a lead pipe weapon, and the fictional murder location of ‘the hall’ – in the trunk of the car abandoned by Lord Lucan in Newhaven, East Sussex.Citing sources with knowledge of the Metropolitan Police review in 2004, the paper claims that the three cards were missing from a Cluedo set recovered from Lucan’s home.Blood spatters were allegedly discovered on stairs near the building’s hallway, including on a door leading to the basement, where investigators found a piece of heavily bloodstained lead piping wrapped in adhesive tape, according to a 2002 report handed to Nanny Rivett’s son Neil Berriman, cited by the Mail.A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty ImagesA villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India’s desert state of RajasthanAFP via Getty ImagesA red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, ScotlandReutersEngland’s Tara-Jane Stanley scores their side’s seventh try against Brazil during the Women’s Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, LeedsPAGB’s James Hall competes during the men’s parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in LiverpoolAFP/GettyPeople dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, DorsetPAMembers of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a ‘Just Stop Oil’ protest, in LondonReutersA cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in LondonReuters98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay’s Galleria in central LondonPAA meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichmentPAKing Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new governmentPARishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative PartyReutersThe Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market’s annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemicPASculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the ‘Planet A’ Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire townPABritain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignationAFP/GettySalmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migrationPAJust Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the groupPAHundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in FifePAA protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction RebellionAFP/GettyA member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a “Just Stop Oil” protest, in London, BritainREUTERSGermany’s Women’s double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, PembrokeshirePAFamily and mourners arrive at St Michael’s Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on FridayPAMotorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colourPAA woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrisePAPolice officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, LondonPAA drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, LondonPATimothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, LondonPATwo young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublin’s Phoenix park as rutting season beginsPAThe Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern IrelandPAGreenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conferencePAPrime Minister Liz Truss and Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in BirminghamAFP/GettyBritish artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist’s trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodlesPAErling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City’s second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3.Manchester City FC/GettyProtesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don’t Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the dayAFP/GettyBritish Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her government’s mini-budgetGettyThe Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i’r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 yearsPACriminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the GovernmentPADavid White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III ‘CIIIR’, after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central LondonAFP/GettyA gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud – Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 – on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition – Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in LondonPALabour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthemPAHandout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George’s Chapel, Windsor CastlePA A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in LondonEPAWoody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north LondonPAA flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in KentPAFlowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or compostedPAThe ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St George’s ChapelAFP/GettyA man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queen’s funeralReutersWolverhampton Wanderers’ Nathan Collins fouls Manchester City’s Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil.Action Images/ReutersMembers of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in LondonAFP via Getty ImagesMembers of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on MondayPAThe allegations will fuel speculation over whether the cards were left deliberately as a boast, as clues for the police to follow, or whether they were planted there in an attempt to frame him.’If Lucan did leave the Cluedo cards, it makes me think the whole thing was pre-planned,’ one former investigator told the Mail, adding: ‘It is interesting. It is strange. The more you think about it, the more it has got implications.’It is also claimed that, during the 2004 review, in which hundreds of pieces of evidence were reassessed by detectives and forensics experts, police interviewed a woman who claimed to have been introduced to Lord Lucan by members of his inner circle at a villa in Portugal’s Algarve after the murder.However, Scotland Yard is claiming to have ruled out following up the lead because it would be too expensive.’She was adamant she was introduced to him in the weeks or months following the murder,’ a source told the paper. ‘Was she genuine, was she credible? It was certainly a potentially significant lead which needed more work done on it.’Who invited her to the party? Who else was there? Who could corroborate what she was alleging?’Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inRegistration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inCluedoLord LucanBelgraviamurderLondonScotland YardSandra Rivett was bludgeoned to deathPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in