Lord Lucan disappearance: What really happened? THE mystery surrounding the disappearance of Richard John Bingham, better known as Lord Lucan, the peer suspected of murdering nanny Sandra Rivett, has fascinated the British public for nearly 40 years. Three days after the murder of Rivett, the nanny to his children, and the attempted murder of Lucan's wife, Lucan vanished from sight. Many believed that he had committed suicide, but theories began to emerge that he had in fact fled the country. Rumoured sightings of Lucan across the world - eyewitnesses have reported seeing the peer in Africa, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia - fuelled conspiracy theories that he fled to escape justice and the substantial gambling debts accrued before his disappearance. However, Lucan's son, George Bingham, has insisted that his father drowned in the English Channel after drinking a cocktail of whisky and sleeping pills. Bingham said: "I think Dad felt backed into a terrible corner. I think he chose almost immediately to take his own life. He had such a huge sense of pride and couldn't bear to consider the horrendous storm that was coming. It was his intention, therefore, to vanish ... and vanish for ever. That said, no conclusive proof has emerged to verify the death of Lord Lucan (although Lucan was as good as declared dead after the High Court allowed executors to wind up his estate in 1999), and rumours that he fled to Africa have proved especially alluring as various witnesses have testified to seeing him there. Earlier this year, an explosive account of Lucan's escape to Africa was given by an assistant to John Aspinall, a wealthy casino owner who was one of the last to see Lucan alive. Shirley Robey claimed that she helped arrange two visits between Lucan and his children in 1980, and that she overheard discussions between Aspinall and Sir James Goldsmith, another close friend of Lucan's, about the missing Lucan. "Instructions were to make arrangements for John Bingham, also known as Lord Lucan to see his children and to do that I had to book his two eldest children on flights to Africa," she said. Robey added that the children were not to be made aware of their father's presence, which may go some way to explaining why they have denied ever seeing their father since his disappearance. Moreover, ex-detective Bob Polkinghorne, who worked on the Lucan inquiry during the 80s, said earlier this year that a credible sighting of Lucan in Africa had been made. Scotland Yard say the Rivett murder case remains open, as unsolved as the disappearance that mystifies British authorities to this day.