Neil Berriman, who was adopted as a baby, spent over 30 years ignoring an envelope his adoptive mother had mentioned to him.
“You should open it. There’s items in the envelope that [will give you] the answers to some questions,” he recalls his mom telling him, to a BBC film crew for a new docu-series titled Lucan.
“I remember saying, ‘No, mum. I’m not interested. I don’t need the brown envelope.'”
Unbeknownst to Berriman, his biological mother was involved in a notorious murder mystery. Sandra Rivett, his mother, was tragically murdered at age 29 while working as a nanny for John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, better known as Lord Lucan.
Three years following his adoptive mother’s death, Berriman decided to open the envelope. Inside, he discovered his adoption certificate and a 1994 newspaper article.
The article mentioned a man named Stephen Hensby as the son of Sandra Rivett.
Berriman’s adoption papers disclosed his birth name as Gary Roger Hensby.
He said: “So Stephen – the boy from the newspaper article – must be my brother. But [the nanny] can’t be connected to me because she’s called Sandra Rivett.
“I read the article one last time and down [at] the bottom I then realised her name was actually Sandra Eleanor Hensby.”
Berriman then concluded: “I am the son of Sandra Eleanor Hensby – also known as the nanny murdered by Lord Lucan in 1974.
“A single letter is what I was expecting. This just doesn’t happen, does it?
“The chances of you being adopted and finding out that your mother is [involved] in one of the biggest murder mysteries of all time. It’s unbelievable.”
In 2007, Berriman had limited knowledge about the case, unaware that it involved his biological mother, who he initially believed to be his sister.
Sandra’s murder occurred on November 7, 1974, 33 years before Berriman discovered her identity, on her day off from caring for Lord and Lady Lucan’s children.
A police report states: “Thursdays were usually Sandra Rivett’s night off, but she had not gone out that evening. At approximately 8.55pm Sandra Rivett asked Lady Lucan whether she would like a cup of tea… and went down to the basement, where the kitchen was.
“At about 9.15pm Lady Lucan went to the basement to see what was taking Sandra so long. She got to the top of the stairs that led to the basement and was surprised to see that there were no lights on.
“She shouted ‘Sandra, Sandra’. Then she heard a noise from a room behind her and she was struck over the head a number of times. At this stage, she had not seen her attacker.
“She fell to the ground and started to scream. Her attacker then put his gloved fingers down her throat and told her to ‘shut up’. She recognised the voice as Lord Lucan’s. A struggle ensued, during which Lady Lucan bit his fingers and grabbed his genitalia.”
Lady Lucan convinced her husband to allow her to treat her injuries, and during his absence, she fled to a nearby pub to report the incident and seek help for their children.
Lord Lucan fled the scene and managed to completely escape detection, never facing justice for Sandra’s murder.
Over five decades later, Lord Lucan was declared legally dead in 2015, yet if he remains alive, he would celebrate his 90th birthday this year on December 18.