A man that discovered that his mother was 'murdered' by aristocrat Lord Lucan has explained the lengths he has gone to in order to track him down.
Neil Berriman, originally from Petersfield, Hampshire is at the centre of a brand-new BBC documentary, as he works to uncover the mystery behind his real family.
The Brit thought nothing of the news that he was being adoped when he was aged 10, despite his adopted mother giving him a brown envelope that contained 'the answers to some questions'.
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Shortly after she passed away due to cancer, when he was 40, Berriman opened it up and discovered a document about his adoption and a newspaper article from 1994, revealing that his mother was Sandra Rivett, who died at the hands of Lord Lucan on 7 November 1974.
After finding out this news in 2007, Berriman had become distraught and broke down as he had found out that his real mother had been brutally murdered.
He then became obsessed with tracking Lord Lucan down.
It is reported that Lucan escaped to a friend's house in Sussex after his wife, who was told of his actions, fled to a local pub after he attacked her, to get help.
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Rivett had been bludgeoned to death and was found in a mail bag in the Belgravia home's basement, and several theories have suggested methods of his escape.
An inquest in June 1975 determined that Lord Lucan murdered Sandra, but he has never been found and therefore had never been brought to justice.
However, in an upcoming documentary set to air on BBC Two on Wednesday (6 October), Berriman is convinced that he has found Lucan, who would be 90 years old today, despite being declared dead 25 years after the crime, in 1999.
In the documentary series simply titled Lucan, the Brit states: "I believe that man in Australia is Lord Lucan and he murdered my mother."
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The three-part series sees Berriman tracking down a pensioner that he thinks is the man responsible for his mother's death, who currently lives under a different name in a Brisbane suburb.
"Even now, at nearly 90 years old he’s an arrogant, powerful, horrible old man who’s ripped off people over Australia, upset a lot of people, and he’s full of lies and deceit," Berriman claimed.
Revealing that he's 'confident' about it, he embarks on a journey that takes him across the world with journalist Glen Campbell.
Speaking to Weekend, Rivett's son explained what he had done: "I’m happy to say that to get to where we’ve got I’ve had to lie all through this. I’ve been different names, I’ve had different employment. I said I was in a coffee shop in Perth, which I never was. And it’s got us to where we are today.
"A lot of it is done through lying and deceit, which is exactly what the old man spent his last 50 years doing. So all I was doing was copying him," he claimed.
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Berriman even came face-to-face with the man that he believes is Lord Lucan, who is called Chris by his carer though, he is known by a Buddhist name.
Australian police believe it is not him, he claims it is not him, though another buddhist the pair met claimed than an aristocratic Englishman told him he murdered two women named Sandra and Veronica, the latter being the name of Lucan's wife.
They met him, secretly filmed the encounter, and Berriman said that he was holding his tongue while speaking to the man.
At the time, he said: "I was really nervous, worried and angry, the whole emotional side of what anybody could have felt was coming out. A bit of everything."
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Convinced that it was the murderer, he explained: "It was the way he walked with his arms behind his back.
"As soon as he got closer I could see his face. I’d been looking at pictures on the internet."
The man shared some information about his life, some of which vaguely lined up with Lord Lucan's, and despite almost snapping, they left the home with the evidence and secret footage.
Lucan airs at 9pm on Wednesday 6th November on BBC Two.
Topics: Australia, BBC, Crime, Documentaries, UK News
Joshua Nair