EXCLUSIVE: Neil Berriman, the son of Sandra Rivett, has told of the moment he opened an envelope which revealed his mum was the nanny murdered by Lord Lucan in 1974

When Neil Berriman finally held the faded envelope containing the key to his identity, he nearly threw it on to the fire unopened.
The mystery contents might ruin his life for ever. And, as he lit a fire at home on a freezing February day, he decided that whatever the secret was, it should be consigned to the flames.
But something stopped him. He opened that envelope and found himself plunged into an even bigger mystery one that has taken him across the world in search of Lord Lucan.
Because the documents painstakingly collected by his adoptive mother Audrey revealed that Neil was the son of Sandra Rivett, the nanny believed to have been killed by Lord Lucan before he vanished in 1974.
Neil said: My life changed for ever. When I realised who I was, I felt shocked, shattered, I felt sad. But I had no idea what lay ahead.
Neil Berriman has spent thousands in the hunt for Lucan. Here he is pictured with the revealing documents (Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror)
Read More
Related Articles
Read More
Related Articles
He had been putting off that terrible moment of truth since he was first told about the ­envelope five years earlier.
Neil, now 52, always knew he was adopted shortly after birth by loving parents Audrey and Ivan Berriman, but felt no urge to know who his birth mother was while his adoptive mum was still alive. But in 2003, Audrey fell ill and decided it was time to help him discover his past.
Neil said: One day, about a year before my mum died, she rang me up and said, I have an envelope I want to give to you. Now when I look back I think she knew she was dying and she wanted me to know something important. She thought that I might want some answers.
Yet still Neil held back. He said: To be honest, I really didnt want to know. I had always thought that when my both parents had died I would try and find out who my birth mother, and my biological father, were. But I had absolutely no intention of doing it when she was alive because I never would have wanted to upset her.
She never actually gave me the envelope but I was aware it existed.
Neil Berriman’s birth certificate with his original name at birth (Image: Daily Mirror)
Neil Berriman’s birth certificate with his adoptive name (Image: Daily Mirror)
Yet even after Audrey died in 2004, Neil did not go in search of the envelope for four more years.
However, it continued to prey on his mind until in 2008 he decided to find it.
Close to tears as he recalled his mum, he said: It was four years later and I decided I should really go and look for that envelope. My dad was still alive and I waited for him to go out because, again, I didnt want to upset him in any way.
The envelope was at their house. I had never seen it. I went in to look for it and I found it hidden under some of my late mums clothes, which were still in her bedside unit.
I picked it up and took it back to my home. I lit a fire because it was a cold day I can distinctly remember putting logs on and I remember the flames, and I remember thinking, Im just going to throw this letter on, thats the easiest and simplest way of dealing with this.
Sandra Rivett was killed by Lord Lucan (Image: Express Newspapers)
46 Lower Belgrade Street, the basement home of Lady Lucan where Sandra Rivett was attacked and murdered
Now a decision had to be made. And as he stoked the fire he changed his mind. He said: At very last second I decided because curiosity killed the cat not to destroy it, and to open it.
He took it up to his bedroom at his home in Milland, West Sussex. Trembling as he opened it, he found it contained a series of documents collected by Audrey over the years, including a newspaper cutting about the murder of Sandra Rivett.
Piecing together the clues, he realised that he was the son of the nanny Lord Lucan is believed to have bludgeoned to death at the family home in Belgravia, Central London, having mistaken her for his wife.
Neil said: I took all the contents out and carefully laid them all out. Eventually, because of the contents, including a newspaper cutting about the murder of Sandra Rivett by Lord Lucan, I was able to piece together the jigsaw in about three hours. I was Sandra Rivetts son. She was the woman who had given birth to me.
Lord Lucan with his wife Veronica, Lady Lucan (Image: Universal Pictorial Press)
This was the secret Audrey had kept for him for as long as she lived. Neil said: I did ask my dad about it and he said he and my mum only ever discussed it once and it was never mentioned again.
Sandra had become pregnant with Neil following an affair with a married man, and gave him up for adoption at six months old. She later wed Roger Rivett, though they had ­separated by the time she was killed aged 29.
Read More
Top news stories from Mirror Online
Neil said: I dont blame her for giving me up for adoption. Thats the way things were. She was just 22 and single when she had me in 1967. On my birth certificate I was Gary Roger Hensby, the product of a relationship with a married estate agent, her second child out of wedlock.
The revelation changed his life. The dad-of-two said: I had to go on anti-depressants for two years. I cant tell you how much Im grateful to my partner Kim. She has stood by me through all this its been very tough at times.
I lie in bed most nights tossing and turning. Its been emotionally draining.