ANTIQUES dealer Cedric Lincoln last night produced sensational new evidence in
the Lord Lucan mystery — the fugitive’s silver watch.
It is engraved on the back with the message “Presented to Lord Lucky Lucan,
‘The Old Fossil,’ by his friends at the Clermont Club, Mayfair, 18 December
1967”.
Cedric, 68, paid thousands of pounds for the timepiece. The Birmingham dealer
who sold it to him said the watch had been bought over the counter at a pawn
shop in Africa — before a collector brought it back to the UK.
And just days after Cedric’s purchase, it was reported that Lucan’s friends
took his children to Africa so he could “look at them from afar”.
A photo that appeared with the reports shows Lucan wearing a distinctive watch
with a thick wristband — and Cedric is convinced it is the same one.
Cedric, from Tamworth, Staffs, said: “It was complete coincidence that I
bought the watch just as the story about Lucan living in Africa emerged.
“When I saw a picture of him wearing the watch I was just gobsmacked.
“The dealer said its history was that it had been pawned in Africa then found
its way back here.
“I’m convinced it’s Lucan’s watch and the history pins him to living in Africa
all these years.”
Lucan, then aged 39, vanished in 1974 after his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett
was murdered at his wife’s home in Belgravia, central London. His
bloodstained car was later found abandoned at the Sussex port of Newhaven.
It is believed his wealthy friends helped him flee the country, and numerous
sightings of Lucan were reported from South America to Holland. He was
officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999.
Cedric is now set to have DNA tests carried out on the watch to see if it
still bears any traces of Lucan.
He added: “It would be easy to say the inscription is fake and it wasn’t
Lucan’s watch, but I know a bit about watches and I am sure this is his.”
