FOR decades the spectre of Lord Lucan's murder and disappearance has haunted his remaining.

Now his son wants to finally put an end to 41 years of rumour, speculation and so-called sightings by having him officially declared “presumed dead”.

Lord Lucan’s blood-soaked car was found in Newhaven, while Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found bludgeoned to death in the basement of his family home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on November 7 1974.

Even though he was officially declared dead by the High Court in 1999, there have been reported sightings of him in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand - and even claims that he fled to India and lived life as a hippy called "Jungly Barry".

His son George Bingham said the move would provide "closure" four decades after the wealthy peer vanished from the family home in London.

A public notice was placed in an independent newspaper in London, seeking to put an end to years of speculation about Lord Lucan's fate.

On the night of Lucan's disappearance, the nanny's attacker also turned on Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub.

She later identified her husband as the assailant, and as the police began their murder investigation, Lucan telephoned his mother, asking her to collect the children, and then drove a borrowed Ford Corsair to a friend's house in Uckfield.

Hours later, he left the property and was never seen again.

After his car was found abandoned in Sussex, an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer the killer a year later.

Mr Bingham, who was a child when his father disappeared, told West End Extra that he was applying to the High Court under the Presumption of Death Act, which came into effect a year ago.

He said the 1999 declaration had not proved death "for all purposes" and the new law allows for a "more complete process".

The Presumption of Death Act was the result of a campaign supported by relatives of high-profile missing people including chef Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared in York in 2009, and Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing in 1995.