Universal News Services, 7 November 1994
"12 Good Men and Women at the 'The Trial of Lord Lucan'"
-----------------------------------------------------------

Twelve members of the public and a handful of Granada 
executives are the only people who know the jury's verdict 
in *The Trial of Lord Lucan* - a secret that will be kept 
until the programme is screened on ITV at 8.30pm on 
Thursday. 

Made up of six men and six women, aged 26 to 66, and 
including a psychotherapist, a dental technician, a service 
engineer, a home-maker, a student and a retired teacher, the 
jury may not have been the jury of Peers that the real Lord 
Lucan would have wanted. 

But neither did they have the power to order hanging by 
silken rope... once a prerogative of the House of Lords. 

This jury is a real jury allowed to reach its own verdict, 
to be revealed for the first time when *The Trial of Lord 
Lucan* is shown on Thursday - almost exactly 20 years since 
the Lucans' nanny, Sandra Rivett, was murdered, Lady Lucan 
brutally attacked and the 7th Earl of Lucan disappeared. 

Granada Television picked its 12 jurors at random off the 
electoral roll. They were not told whose trial they were 
attending until they arrived for a private two-day briefing, 
during which they heard a mass of detailed evidence. 

To help them make up their minds, a proper legal summing up 
was provided by a working judge in his robes - Mr Richard 
Henriques, QC. 

The debate between the jurors was intense and often heated: 

:: "I think he was a villain" - Neville, aged 45, juror 

:: "I did feel sorry for the Lord and the Lady" - Elaine, 
39, juror 

:: "I'm sure we saw a different side of the story than was 
told at the time" - Kenneth, 56 

:: "I don't think the case is at all cut-and-dried" - Jan, 
39, juror 

The jury took their responsibilities seriously, showing 
commitment and tenacity in equal measure. After three hours 
they were ready to deliver their verdict... 

The accepted version of what happened in the Lucans' elegant 
Belgravia home on the night of November 7 1974 is that the 
gambling Lord Lucan, separated from his wife but desperate 
to gain custody of his beloved children, decided to kill 
Lady Lucan. 

He let himself in and waited in the darkened basement 
kitchen. When Sandra Rivett came into the kitchen Lucan 
mistook her for his wife and battered her to death with a 
length of lead pipe. 

Lady Lucan was then also attacked, by her husband, as she 
went in search of the nanny. 

Lord Lucan's testimony, taken from conversations with friend 
Mrs Susan Maxwell-Scott and his mother on the night of his 
disappearance and in three letters to friends - also sent 
that night - tells a very different tale. 

*The Trial of Lord Lucan* is the first time in 20 years that 
the evidence from both sides of the case has been aired 
before that ultimate test of truth - a jury. 

The ITV programme is a dramatisation from Granada Television 
featuring Julian Wadham as Lord Lucan, Lynsey Baxter as Lady 
Lucan and a strong cast that includes Robin Ellis, Anthony 
Head and James Faulkner. 

It comes from the same production stable responsible for the 
high-profile drama-documentaries "Who Bombed Birmingham?," 
"Hostages" and "Fighting for Gemma." 

The programme was made after six months' intensive research. 
The attention to detail was meticulous, as was the 
motivation to set aside 20 years of media myth to allow the 
jury to deliberate with facts and without prejudice. 

:: "I was swept away with it all and forgot that is was a 
television programme" - Patricia, 66, juror. 

Contact: Steve Roberts, Roberts Laurence Marketing, 0422-
846192 



-----------------------------------------------------------
                     Bentley's Bedlam
            http://www.BetsyDa.com/bedlam.html

This website is for information and entertainment purposes only 
and is not intended to infringe on copyrights held by others.