The son of the nanny murdered by Lord Lucan has spoken of his 14 year mission to get justice for his mum.
Neil Berriman's tenacious campaign for justice started in 2008 when he opened a fading envelope left to him by his adoptive mum after her death.
He almost threw it on a fire but decided to open it and inside he found documents which revealed that his birth mum was the nanny killed by Lucan - Sandra Rivett.
It comes after the Mirror revealed how a British OAP living as a Buddhist in Australia was found by one of the world’s most respected facial recognition experts to be a match for the missing aristocrat.
Neil said: “I opened that envelope and now 14 long years later I believe we have finally found justice for my mum.
“As I lit the fire I decided the envelope should be consigned to the flames.
“But at the very last second I decided - because curiosity killed the cat - not to destroy it, and to open it.”
The various documents and newspaper clippings had been saved by his adoptive mother Audrey. They revealed that he was Rivett’s son.
Neil recalled: “My life changed forever. When I realised who I was, I felt shocked, shattered, I felt sad. But I still had no idea what lay ahead.”
Sandra had become pregnant with Neil following an affair with a married man, and made the heart-breaking decision to give him up for adoption when he was just six months old.
Neil said: “I don’t blame her for giving me up for adoption. That’s the way things were.
“She was just 22 and single when she had me in 1967.”
He said: “Even when people didn’t believe me I always knew that I would find justice for my mum.”
But in 2003, his mum Audrey became seriously ill.
Neil said: “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.”
In 2004 Audrey passed away but Neil didn’t actually look for the envelope for another four years.
Until one day in 2008 he decided to find it.
He said emotionally: “Four years later 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 didn’t 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 mum’s clothes, which were still in her bedside unit.”
He took the envelope home and recalled trembling as he opened it.
Looking at all the clues, he suddenly realised that he was the son of Rivett.
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 Rivett’s son. She was the woman who had given birth to me.”
