Interview with Neil Berriman – son of Sandra Rivett, on the hunt for key suspect Lord Lucan

Why is it important to tell your story now?

It is important to tell the story now, not just because it’s the 50th anniversary, but because I am in a position to do so, one which I never thought I would find myself in.

With a documentary and new evidence, some of which I am still working on, I feel now is the right time and almost the last chance before the old man passes away and the possibility of justice slipping away. I can never forget Sandra after all these years and Glen and myself cannot go on forever – all the pieces have fallen into place…the time has come.

How did you feel when you first found out Sandra Rivett was your mother?

Oh god, Sandra Rivett who was she I first thought, nanny murdered by Lord Lucan who does a runner, how very sad. It’s something that happens to other people not me it’s impossible. Surely my real mum would not be involved in such a horrible brutal end to her life.

When it was confirmed Sandra was my birth mother, I fell into complete shock and could not believe somebody would do this to her. I was cross, angry and wanted that man caught. The emotional side of it all was incredibly sad and painful and I felt so sorry for her. Can you imagine what she went though, total hell.

To be the second child of Sandra and be involved in the biggest murder mystery was hard to comprehend, she deserves justice.

What has driven you all these years?

She’s the mother I never knew, but that makes no difference. Sandra is still my mum and I will do the best I can for her. There is also no actual proof that Lucan was dead so he could still be alive.

I was fresh to all this and took up the never-ending challenge to find the man who murdered my mother. The whole situation, the way Sandra was murdered and a man who thought he was above the law and escapes, it’s so wrong. I was having none of it and as the years kept bringing new information in I was more determined than ever. I was not going to give up on my mum, Sandra drove me as much as I drove myself, this was one puzzle I was going to finish. Nobody gets away with murder. It was all about Sandra.

Published: November 5,2024 — BBC Factual today announces Lucan, a 3×60’ from Five Mile Films for BBC Two and iPlayer, which follows one man’s hunt for the truth about the murder of Sandra Rivett.

On November 7, 1974, the dead body of a children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was discovered in a mail sack in the basement of a Belgravia townhouse. The chief suspect was the father of the children, an Eton educated gambler called Richard John Bingham, the seventh earl of Lucan, who had disappeared. While most of Lord Lucan’s friends and family insisted that he had taken his own life, no body has ever been found. The manhunt for Lucan has lasted decades.

This three part series follows the deeply personal quest of Hampshire builder, Neil Berriman, whose conviction in his own ability to solve the mystery is unshakeable. The case has consumed Neil for the last two decades, and it has done so for very personal reasons: Neil’s birth mother was Sandra Rivett.

He watches every film, reads every book, meets police officers who take him through pictures of the scene of the crime, and he corresponds with Veronica, Lucan’s wife, and scrutinises every detail of Lucan’s life. Neil emerges from this research not only convinced that Lucan got away, but also that he will be the man who finally secures justice for his birth mother and finds the fugitive lord.

With the support of a former BBC investigative journalist, Glen Campbell, Neil maps out what seems Lucan’s likely escape from his homeland to a life of exile in Africa. The two men unearth persuasive evidence that one of Lucan’s powerful friends helped mastermind a new life for the aristocrat in Mozambique under the alias ‘John Crawford’. On a research trip to South Africa Glen secures a rare interview with Lucan’s expatriate brother, Hugh, who points the two Lucan seekers onto a trail that leads to Eastern religion, Buddhist retreats and ultimately the east and west coasts of Australia.

If still alive, Lucan would be about to enter his ninth decade, so the clock is ticking – will Neil be in time to find justice for his mother?

Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, says: “The disappearance of Lord Lucan, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, is a mystery that has baffled the police and fascinated the press for half a century. Whilst there have been many programmes following Lord Lucan and his possible fate, Sandra’s story has rarely been told. By following Neil’s deeply personal quest to seek justice for his mother we gain a unique perspective, one which sees an ordinary man take on the British establishment in his search for the fugitive Lord.”

Lucan, a 3×60’ for BBC Two and iPlayer, is made by Five Mile Films. It was commissioned by Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries. The Series Director is Colette Camden. The Commissioning Editor is Beejal-Maya Patel.

Lucan is set to air on BBC Two and iPlayer this autumn.