Known to his friends as Lucky, Richard John Bingham AKA Lord Lucan, was one of the key members of Britain's upper class.
Educated at private school, he was a regular in London's most exclusive clubs, restaurants and gambling haunts.
Along with his wife Veronica and their three children, Lord Lucan also lived in one of the most sought after addresses in the capital.
But on November 7, 1974, his name became one of the most infamous in British society when he was accused of the murder of his children's nanny and disappeared into thin air.
For almost 50 years, rumours surrounding what happened to Lucky Lucan have swirled - was he still alive or in hiding - and even when he was declared dead in 2016 many believed he was still at large and evading justice.
Now, an expert has told the Mirror that photographs of a frail pensioner living in Australia are an exact match for Lord Lucan.
Professor Hassan Ugail - who successfully identified the Russian men behind the Salisbury Skripal poisoning - said: “I analysed these seven photos and they produced a match. This isn’t an opinion, it's science and mathematical fact.”
“These are the facts - you can’t cheat the algorithm.”
The revelation comes as it has also been revealed that in recent years the British pensioner identified as Lord Lucan has moved from house to house in Australia.
The Mirror understands that he has been looked after by members of a Buddhist community and two young Englishmen have been acting as his carers.
Born to George Bingham and his wife Kaitlin, who were staunch socialists, Lucan's early years were spent being cared for by his nurse maid in the family home in London.
At the advent of World War Two, Lucan and his sister, Jane, were sent to live in Wales in a bid to keep them safe before travelling to Canada and finally America in 1940.
The family would remain overseas for the next five years until it was time for Lucan to return and attend Eton College, along with many others from the aristocracy.
It was while he was a pupil at Eton that Lucan's love of gambling first took hold - and where he earned the nickname Lucky.
After completing his National Service in 1954, Lucan began a career as a banker but was still gambling regularly.
Despite being skilled at bridge and backgammon, he also made huge losses and needed the cash from his family trust funds to keep himself afloat, even borrowing money from relatives so he could keep playing.
However, in 1960, Lucan really did hit lucky, winning £26,000 and, after being overlooked for a promotion, made the decision to quit his banking job to make his living gambling full time.
Something of a playboy, the aristocrat enjoyed luxury holidays with his upper class friends and enjoyed pricey past-times like power boat racing.
In 1963, Lucan met his wife, Veronica, who was a keen artist and lived with her sister, Christina, in a flat in London, where she worked as both a secretary and a model.
Following Christina's marriage to William Shand Kydd, Veronica was introduced to aristocratic circles and met Lucan at a function in a golf club.
The couple were engaged in 1963 and married in November of that year, with royals among those from High Society in attendance.
After a luxurious honeymoon on the Orient Express, Veronica and Lucan moved into their home in Belgravia and the newly wed wife spent her time redecorating it with lavish wallpaper and furnishings.
Just two months after their marriage, Lucan's father died from a stroke, making him the Earl of Lucan and veronica Countess of Lucan.
Their first born, Lady Frances Bingham, arrived in October 1964, with Lord George Bingham in September 967 and their youngest, Lady Camilla Bingham in June 1970.
Despite their seemingly blissful married life, Veronica was struck with crippling post-natal depression following the birth of her children.
The couple employed a nanny after Lady Frances' birth and Lucan continued with his glamorous life.
Typically, he had breakfast at 9am before replying to letters, playing the piano and walking his beloved Doberman in the park close to their home.
Games of backgammon followed lunch at the prestigious Clermont Club and Lucan was often known to gamble until the early hours, sometimes with Veronica at his side.
Meanwhile, Veronica struggled to deal with her mental health problems with her husband becoming increasingly involved, even trying to have her admitted to a psychiatric clinic, which she refused.
Veronica allowed home visits from doctors and was prescribed anti-depressants.
Lucan's gambling was also still creating serious financial issues for him and in 1972 his marriage to Veronica was damaged beyond repair and he moved into a small home nearby.
The split was not an amicable one, despite Veronica's initial attempts to get them back together, and Lucan's main focus became getting custody of his three children.
He went to extreme lengths to prove his wife wasn't capable of caring for them, even spying on his own family outside their home.
Lucan also recruited medical professionals, who refused to say that his wife was "mad" and insisted instead that she was suffering from depression.
He also told his powerful friends that she could not get any nannies to work for her. She had sacked one and another, Stefanja Sawicka, claimed Veronica had told her that she feared her husband would one day kill her.
In 1973, Stefanja, while out with the couple's two youngest children, was approached by Lucan and told they had been made wards of court and she must allow them to go with him. He collected Frances from school later that day.
Desperate to have her children returned, Veronica contacted the courts and a hearing was set for three months time.
In the interim period, Veronica admitted herself for a four-day stay at The Priory, where doctors agreed she was not mentally ill.
The court case then awarded custody to Veronica, with Lucan allowed access every other weekend.
The impact of losing the court case had a serious impact on Lucan. Not only had he lost custody of his children, it had also cost him around £20,000 and his finances were already in a perilous position.
It was then that Lucan's behaviour towards his ex-wife intensified, with him watching her every move and even recording phone calls.
He also began to withhold the money she needed to provide food and the live-in nanny she was required to have as part of the court order.
Even Lucan's friends had concerns about his erratic behaviour, especially when his drinking and smoking increased. He even, drunkenly, talked about killing Veronica to save him from bankruptcy.
Some even said he had talked of 'buying' his children from Veronica, and asked one friend for a loan of £100,000.
Determined not to lose custody of her children, Veronica got a part-time job at the local hospital to make what money she could and after a series of temporary nannies, employed Sandra Rivett in late 1974.
Then, in October 1974, the clouds around him seemed to have lifted. Friends remarked how his obsession with having his children returned to him eased and he was said to be happy, once again gambling until the early hours of the morning.
But then, on November 7, 1974, he broke with his usual strict routine. Lucan failed to meet a friend for an arranged meal at 3pm at The Clermont, and several other friends and business associates earlier that day.
He met a friend, literary agent Michael Hicks-Beach, at his flat at around 6:30pm driving him home at about 8pm, unusually not in his usual Mercedes, but an "old, dark and scruffy Ford".
Lucan had been due to meet his friend, Greville Howard, at The Clermont, at 11pm but did not appear.
It was the last time any of his friends heard from him.
Following the murder of Sandra Rivett and the attack on his wife, Lucan was next seen at the home of Madelaine Florman, who was the mother of one his eldest daughter's school friends but she did not answer the door.
Lucan also called his moth at about 10:30pm and asked her to collect his children from the home he had shared with Veronica.
He then drove the old Ford to the home of his friends the Maxwell-Scotts in Sussex, where he met Susan - it was the last ever confirmed sighting of Lord Lucan.
Since then, his whereabouts have remained a complete mystery.
Over the years there have been thousands of supposed sightings of the runaway lord but his friends initially believed he had taken his own life.
He was officially declared dead in 2016.
