A 40-year-old case involving the death of a British aristocrat was finally closed after a rich gambler disclosed to the High Court what really happened to Lord “Lucky” Lucan. The procedural hearing was necessary to settle the matter of issuing a death certificate to the 7th Earl of Lucan.

The Telegraph reports that Lucan disappeared after Sandra Rivett, the nanny of his three children, was found dead at the Lucan’s residence in Belgravia on Nov 7, 1974. There were rumours that Lucan, who was once asked to go through a screen test so he could play the role of Agent 007 James Bond, fled overseas amid reports of various sightings and the discovery of is abandoned car soaked with blood in Newhaven, East Sussex.

A year later, an inquest declared the earl the one who killed the nanny whom Lucan mistook for his wife Veronica. Last week, during the hearing, Philippe Marcq, the gambler, recounted to the court the account of Lucan’s death as narrated to him by Stephen Raphael who also gambled regularly at the Clermont Club in Mayfair.

Marcq disclosed that because of Lucan’s fear that Rivett’s death would result in him not seeing his children again and Victoria getting custody of the kids and the family trust since the Countess of Lucan and him had a court battle in 1972 for the children after they divorced, Lucan was advised by friends to disappear without a trace. The lack of proof of death could delay the transfer of his estate to Victoria at least for seven years. He tried to kill Veronica because she divorced him, reports RT.

For Lucan, after seven years, the kids would be mature enough to handle their life. However, the earl did not like the idea of being on the lam abroad. He instead shot himself in the head and his body was fed to Zorra, a tiger at the Howletts Zoo, a private zoo in Canterbury.

Marcq admits to being shocked when he found from Raphael how the earl died and disappeared. He kept the secret for 40 years as part of his promise to Raphael which he decided to finally break. The hearing’s purpose was to issue the death certificate for George, the earl’s son and the current Lord Bingham, to use his father’s title and the 8th Earl of Lucan and adopt the surname.

In finally sharing the “truth,” Marcq says he wants to end the mystery surrounding the earl’s disappearance, but there is no way to confirm his statements since Raphael is also dead by now.

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