Why I'm living in fear
From Lord Lucan
The Evening News TUESDAY, MAY 8 1979 THE VOICE SAID: HAS SHE BEEN CERTIFIED?
Why I'm living in fear, by Lady Lucan
FRANKIE McGOWAN exclusive In the five years since her husband's disappearance, Lady Lucan has been attempting to rebuild her life and the lives of her three children into something resembling normality. It is an effort that is, according to Lady Lucan, being constantly thwarted by repeated attempts to either prove she is incapable of caring for her children or that she is insane. This week once again, she is in fear that such a move may succeed. She is bewildered by it all, the inevitable strain of living under such uncertainty is beginning to tell. Mentally she is totally alert, physically her appearance has changed quite staggeringly in the past two years. Her hair is streaked with grey, her face is pale and drawn. The house in Belgravia has gone and she and her three children have moved around the corner to a small mews house where the blinds are tightly closed and Lady Lucan who is now 47, keeps everything going where once nannies and daily helps were readily available to her. "I am coping and the children have settled down well into their new life, we don't harm anyone or seek anyone out, so I can't understand why these constant attempts are made to separate us," she said. "I am not imagining it when I say that I know beyond doubt that there is a plan in operation to have me certified mentally incapable of caring for them". "It was a chance in a million that I heard about it and I'm still recovering from the shock of it." "I have had a very difficult relationship with my doctor for the past two years ever since I gave a newspaper interview about the circumstances surrounding my marriage and in which I made some adverse comments about some of the medical profession." "My doctor was clearly annoyed and our relationship declined to such an extent that on March 21 I removed myself from his care." "I didn't see him that often, just for things like sleeping pills, the odd cold. The children hardly ever." "But on the day following our final rather difficult interview I had a letter from the Official Solicitor saying he had heard from the doctor that he was anxious on the children's behalf and would I contact him." Her instincts, she said, made her extremely concerned when the letter arrived. "I went immediately to the Official Solicitor's Office arriving there at 9.15 a.m., having dropped Camilla at school, but he was on his way out." "However, he told me to wait and his secretary went to get me a cup of coffee. While she was away the phone on her desk rather incessantly so I picked it up, to hear a voice say: "This is Mr Shand-Kydd. Is the certification order on Lady Lucan ready yet ?" "I nearly collapsed. I didn't say anything. "I let him think I was the secretary. As far as I know he has no idea he spoke to me. The Official Solicitor was obviously very annoyed that this had taken place and said: "Oh, Mr Shand-Kydd's language." "No one had bothered to tell me of this latest development. Fortunately I already had another doctor who immediately sent a letter to the Official Solicitor saying in his opinion I was mentally fit." The Lucans had three children before Lord Lucan disappeared in 1974 after their family's nanny was killed. He is wanted for her murder. Lady Lucan said the children are aware of all the facts surrounding her husband's disappearance, but they don't think he is dead. "They think he's living in, oh, South America or somewhere." "What do I think ? Well, how can you be sure of anything ? His body has never been washed up, it is possible that he is alive somewhere." Mr Bill Shand-Kydd, whose wife Christina is Lady Lucan's sister, said: "On the day she mentions when I phoned the Official Solicitor's office, I said nothing about certification. I wouldn't discuss that sort of thing with the secretary anyway. I just said 'Is the Official Solicitor there' and the voice which answered said he was busy.' "The family certainly hasn't cut her off. That is a complete fabrication. She has cut herself off from us." "She doesn't reply to letters, she doesn't even open the door when we go round to deliver presents for the children and we have to leave them at the house opposite." "She has always been very welcome and we would like to see more of the children but she appears to want to keep the children apart from the rest of the family."
