AI Finds Missing Gambler Lord Lucan
A facial recognition expert is reported to have solved the mystery of the whereabouts of missing murder suspect Lord Lucan. The British peer and professional gambler is thought to have murdered Sandra Rivett in 1974 and has been missing ever since. In what could prove to be the most significant development to the case in decades, a computer algorithm has found a strong match for the missing aristocrat.
Baccarat was the notorious gambler’s favorite casino game. ?Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels
On The Run
A facial recognition expert claims to have made a breakthrough in the search for missing murder suspect Lord Lucan. Professor Hassan Ugail, a mathematician at Bradford University, is sure that he has found Lucan, who has been on the run since 1974, telling the Daily Mirror “It’s him”. Professor Ugail went further, stating that his view is not an opinion but a fact.
Lord Lucan, also known as John Bingham, is believed to have murdered his family’s nanny Sandra Rivett on November 7th, 1974. Lucan also attacked his wife Veronica Duncan, from whom he had separated two years prior. In the days that followed, the police uncovered substantial evidence that Lucan had committed the crime, including a bandaged lead pipe and the peer’s abandoned car, stained with blood.
However, by the time that a warrant for his arrest had been issued, Lucan had vanished. An inquest into Rivett’s death in June 1975 named Lucan as her killer. The case garnered worldwide attention, and alleged sightings were recorded across the globe. Despite this, Lucan has never been found. On December 11th 1992 it was presumed that Lucan was dead, and he was legally declared dead in 1999.
In a significant development to the case, a facial recognition expert claims to have positively identified the murder suspect as an 87-year-old man living in a Buddhist community in Australia. At the request of Rivett’s son, Neil Berriman, Professor Ugail analyzed photos of the man alongside photos of Lord Lucan using an artificial intelligence algorithm. In a statement, Professor Ugail said:
“According to the computer algorithm, based on thousands of experiments, these pictures belong to the same individual or someone who looks extremely like them – like identical twins. This is science and mathematical fact. You can’t cheat the algorithm.”
Pioneering Technology
Professor Ugail is the Director of the Centre for Visual Computing at the University of Bradford. He explained that while humans see objects like faces in three dimensions, computers are able to look at them in thousands of dimensions. By using millions of images of faces, the powerful computer algorithm has been trained to analyze faces in depth greater than the human eye can see.
The facial recognition algorithm is the product of more than fifteen years of research by a team that includes over a dozen PhD students and post-doctoral researchers. Millions of pounds have gone into research projects, with the support of various grant awarding bodies.
Berriman sought out the expertise of Professor Ugail, who previously helped to identify the Salisbury poisoning suspects as Russian agents. His pioneering facial recognition software was also used in the case of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Professor Ugail used his algorithm to compare three photos of the Australian pensioner with four photos of Lucan.
Berriman explained that his mission is to keep the memory of his mother alive and to seek justice. Due to Lord Lucan’s fame and notoriety, his name has long eclipsed hers in reports. Berriman believes that Lucan’s privileged position as a lord allowed him protection from friends who helped him to vanish abroad.
Speaking to the Guardian, Professor Ugail stated that while he cannot 100% confirm that the man is Lord Lucan, the two bear a striking resemblance that merits further investigation. Professor Ugail added that he was not aware that he was working on the Lucan case when carrying out his initial research.
A firm in Silicon Valley appears to have corroborated Professor Ugail’s findings, after producing similar results. Speaking through his carers, the man in question has denied being Lord Lucan. The senior citizen is the same age as Lucan and is described as a Buddhist who has lived in Nepal.
Professional Gambler
The Metropolitan police has stated that it was first made aware of information connecting an Australian citizen to the case in December 2020. However, extensive inquiries and investigations carried out by the Australian federal police on behalf of the Metropolitan police ruled that person out the investigation in April 2021.
The inquiry into the murder of Sandra Rivett remains open. A cold-case review was carried out in 2004, but did not reach a conclusion. Monday marked the 48th anniversary of Rivett’s death, as the Daily Mail reported that cryptic new clues in the mystery had been revealed.
It claims that three cards from murder mystery game Cluedo were found in Lucan’s abandoned car in Newhaven, East Sussex. The cards, which have been hidden in a police storage facility until now, bear a strange resemble to the case itself. Questions over whether the Colonel Mustard, the Lead Pipe and the Hall cards found in the car were planted in the Ford Corsair by someone else or left as a form of confession remain unanswered.
Speculation over the case has been rife over the last 48 years, and hundreds of sightings have been reported in countries around the world. Many of these were passed on to the media by Rocky Ryan, who became famous for providing newspapers with fabricated stories. In 2003, pictures were published as Lucan was reportedly tracked down to Goa in India. Comedian Mike Harding recognized the man photographed as heavy-drinking folk singer Barry Halpin from St Helens.
Before hitting the headlines over the death of Rivett, Lord Lucan was already a well-known face in British society. Before casino gaming was legalized in 1964, Lucan frequently attended illegal gambling houses for the rich elite in Belgravia and Mayfair. He was an early member of the Clermont Club, where his game of choice was baccarat. His love of gambling earned him the nickname “Lucky”, and despite his numerous losses he left his banking job to become a professional gambler.
