Lord Lucan did not flee the UK by Newhaven ferry but via an Uckfield taxi and a Kent airfield.

That’s the claims of a new book into one of the enduring mysteries of modern British times published to mark its 40th anniversary as reported in The Mail On Sunday.

Lord Lucan’s car was found in Newhaven in November 1974 the day after the body of Sandra Rivett, a nanny at his London Belgravia home, was discovered prompting many to speculate that Lucan fled the country by ferry.

Author Laura Thompson claims in her new book that Lucan was driven by an Uckfield-based taxi firm from his friend Susan Maxwell-Scott’s house in the Sussex town 36 miles to Headcorn airfield in Kent before disappearing into infamy.

The new version of events suggests that another person drove Lucan's Ford Corsair to Newhaven before they were picked up by the same taxi company and brought back to Uckfield.

The author also suggests that Lucan may have had an alibi for the murder having been seen by a club doorman outside the Clermont club in London at the time of the murder.

Laura Thompson's A Different Class of Murder is available to buy now priced £17.