phone booth, or she would have heard the tell-tale “pip” sounds. Did he call from Elizabeth St. or Eaton Row? Perhaps, but why were no blood traces found there when he
had
dripped blood (both A and B types) on Madeleine Floorman’s front step? If he now planned to run, why didn’t he take his passport, driver’s license, checkbook and cash? A clean suit was lying on the bed at Elizabeth St. Although he was already on the run, why not change to hide at least
some
of the blood to avoid suspicion?
Leaving London made sense: Get away from the crime scene as quickly as possible. Perhaps the choice of the Maxwell-Scotts’ was random. There were many other friends Lucan could have called, even at outrageous hours, around the country. Clearly, from what Susan remembered of his conversation, he expected his friend Ian Maxwell-Scott to be at home. He appeared to be wearing the same clothes he had worn when he had entertained Michael Hicks-Beach earlier the previous evening, clothes that should have been bloodstained but weren’t. All Susan Maxwell-Scott saw was a damp patch on one hip. Yet the letters that Lucan then wrote to Ian in her presence still had blood traces on them when Maxwell-Scott took them to the police.
10. What about the timing of the journey? We’ve looked at this one already. Uckfield is only 16 miles from Newhaven where the Corsair was found, but it apparently took Lucan a
minimum
(and it could have been longer) of three hours to do it. Where was he in that time frame?
No doubt all these questions—and many more—would have been answered had Lucan stood as the accused in the dock in an English courtroom. The fact is he didn’t. Yet, in a curious way, he has been in the dock ever since.
www.crimescape.com
Chapter 15: Worst-Case Scenarios
What are the possible explanations for what happened in that house in Lower Belgrave St. on the night of November 7, 1974? Had Lucan ever come to trial, all of these might have been trotted out by prosecution and defense counsel to convince a jury.
SCENARIO ONE—THE INTRUDER
This was essentially John Lucan’s story. A large unknown male entered the house, killed Sandra Rivett and tried to kill Veronica Lucan. It falls apart immediately. Unless the intruder was a sex attacker—and there is no evidence for that at all—he would probably have been a burglar. A professional would have got in the same way that the police did, using a plastic credit card, which would explain why there was no sign of a break-in. It was no secret that the inhabitants of all the houses in Belgravia had serious cash, valuable antiques and so on, so Number 46 might have looked like a good target. Many of the lights were defective—an inevitable problem if bulbs failed in a house where the tallest inhabitants were only just over 5 feet tall—so it might have looked empty.
Even so, the timing—around 9 PM—is a little early for burglars to be at work. Lower Belgrave St. is quiet, but busy Victoria is only a few hundred yards away.
The intruder
might
have been carrying a lead pipe for self-defense. He
might
have been interrupted by Sandra Rivett and panicked. Then he shoved her body into the mailbag, which
may
have been in the basement already, and climbed the stairs, to be confronted by Veronica Lucan. He may have attacked her and then ran in a blind panic, leaving alive a woman who could identify him.
The problem with this is that Veronica identified the attacker as John Lucan, and so the case of the large intruder vanishes.
SCENARIO TWO—THE HIT MAN
This was also John Lucan’s version. Veronica, he told Susan Maxwell-Scott, accused him of hiring someone to kill her—she had got the idea from a TV movie. There weren’t too many professional assassins around in London in 1974. In fact, beyond the realms of crime and espionage fiction, it’s not certain whether they existed at all! Let’s assume for the moment that they did and that somehow Lucan found one for hire. He would
had
dripped blood (both A and B types) on Madeleine Floorman’s front step? If he now planned to run, why didn’t he take his passport, driver’s license, checkbook and cash? A clean suit was lying on the bed at Elizabeth St. Although he was already on the run, why not change to hide at least
some
of the blood to avoid suspicion?
Leaving London made sense: Get away from the crime scene as quickly as possible. Perhaps the choice of the Maxwell-Scotts’ was random. There were many other friends Lucan could have called, even at outrageous hours, around the country. Clearly, from what Susan remembered of his conversation, he expected his friend Ian Maxwell-Scott to be at home. He appeared to be wearing the same clothes he had worn when he had entertained Michael Hicks-Beach earlier the previous evening, clothes that should have been bloodstained but weren’t. All Susan Maxwell-Scott saw was a damp patch on one hip. Yet the letters that Lucan then wrote to Ian in her presence still had blood traces on them when Maxwell-Scott took them to the police.
10. What about the timing of the journey? We’ve looked at this one already. Uckfield is only 16 miles from Newhaven where the Corsair was found, but it apparently took Lucan a
minimum
(and it could have been longer) of three hours to do it. Where was he in that time frame?
No doubt all these questions—and many more—would have been answered had Lucan stood as the accused in the dock in an English courtroom. The fact is he didn’t. Yet, in a curious way, he has been in the dock ever since.
www.crimescape.com
Chapter 15: Worst-Case Scenarios
What are the possible explanations for what happened in that house in Lower Belgrave St. on the night of November 7, 1974? Had Lucan ever come to trial, all of these might have been trotted out by prosecution and defense counsel to convince a jury.
SCENARIO ONE—THE INTRUDER
This was essentially John Lucan’s story. A large unknown male entered the house, killed Sandra Rivett and tried to kill Veronica Lucan. It falls apart immediately. Unless the intruder was a sex attacker—and there is no evidence for that at all—he would probably have been a burglar. A professional would have got in the same way that the police did, using a plastic credit card, which would explain why there was no sign of a break-in. It was no secret that the inhabitants of all the houses in Belgravia had serious cash, valuable antiques and so on, so Number 46 might have looked like a good target. Many of the lights were defective—an inevitable problem if bulbs failed in a house where the tallest inhabitants were only just over 5 feet tall—so it might have looked empty.
Even so, the timing—around 9 PM—is a little early for burglars to be at work. Lower Belgrave St. is quiet, but busy Victoria is only a few hundred yards away.
The intruder
might
have been carrying a lead pipe for self-defense. He
might
have been interrupted by Sandra Rivett and panicked. Then he shoved her body into the mailbag, which
may
have been in the basement already, and climbed the stairs, to be confronted by Veronica Lucan. He may have attacked her and then ran in a blind panic, leaving alive a woman who could identify him.
The problem with this is that Veronica identified the attacker as John Lucan, and so the case of the large intruder vanishes.
SCENARIO TWO—THE HIT MAN
This was also John Lucan’s version. Veronica, he told Susan Maxwell-Scott, accused him of hiring someone to kill her—she had got the idea from a TV movie. There weren’t too many professional assassins around in London in 1974. In fact, beyond the realms of crime and espionage fiction, it’s not certain whether they existed at all! Let’s assume for the moment that they did and that somehow Lucan found one for hire. He would
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