Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Oct 11, 2018 13:17:00 GMT
Earlier today I watched a documentary on one of the sky channels, presented by Fred Dineage, on this case. I do remember this from the news at the time, at the end of 74, and it was a big story at the time.
It appeared that, after a nasty divorce, Lucans wife got custody of their children, and he tried to overturn the ruling, unsuccessfully and got landed with a big legal bill, when he already had huge gambling and other debts. He went round to the house at night, with the intention of murdering his wife, but, in darkness killed the kids nanny by mistake. He disappeared in a borrowed Ford Corsair, last seen in Newhaven, and presumably escaped by boat. The most plausible theory is that he jumped off the boat in the Channel, although Botswana and Mexico were mentioned as places he could have escaped to.
It is possible he could still be alive, if he is he would be 84.
Another case at the same time, which also was big in the news, and possibly was solved due to the Lucan investigation was John Stonehouse. He was a Labour MP, and his business interests were going rapidly down the toilet, so he faked his death by leaving his clothes on a beach in Miami. He then flew to Australia, under an assumed name and was arrested there, by detectives, who thought he was Lucan.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Oct 11, 2018 13:37:57 GMT
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Oct 11, 2018 13:47:19 GMT
The ITV drama about him was good, DE, worth catching if possible. Personally I think he did probably get to somewhere in Europe, but was probably taken out by some of the people he owed big money to. As you say, it was a bit easier to get away with stuff like fake papers and disappear in the 70s than now, with the spread of CCTV and so on.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on Oct 11, 2018 17:25:36 GMT
Another case at the same time, which also was big in the news, and possibly was solved due to the Lucan investigation was John Stonehouse. He was a Labour MP, and his business interests were going rapidly down the toilet, so he faked his death by leaving his clothes on a beach in Miami. He then flew to Australia, under an assumed name and was arrested there, by detectives, who thought he was Lucan. I was reading an account about John Stonehouse recently in The Times, as it's thirty years since his death. He was apparently the only serving Cabinet Minister known to have been an agent for the former Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. He was also responsible for the introduction of the then controversial first and second class stamp. On a lighter note, he once tried to seduce my mum's best friend in a lift in Birmingham. She told him to get stuffed!
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Oct 11, 2018 20:28:30 GMT
Another reason why Stonehouse wanted to disappear was because he was having an affair with his secretary, Sheila Buckley, and wanted to start a new life with her. She actually stuck by him when he was arrested and jailed and they got married after he was released.
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