It is a mystery that has fascinated Britain for almost 30 years: the disappearance of the dashing Lord Lucan from a bloodstained car near the English coast, days after his children's nanny was bludgeoned to death and his wife beaten with a lead pipe.

Some thought the debate about whether Lucan drowned himself in the English Channel or fled abroad in 1974 would die when the aristocrat was officially declared dead in 1999.

But photographs published Sunday have renewed the speculation. A former senior Scotland Yard detective claims the pictures of a gaunt, bearded man taken in the Indian state of Goa in the early 1990s are of Lucan.

Former policeman Duncan MacLaughlin claims in a new book, "Dead Lucky," that Lucan lived undetected in India under the name Barry Halpin in India from 1975 until his death in 1996.

MacLaughlin said the photographs — published in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper — were handed to him by Mark Winch, a former drug dealer who became friendly with Halpin. Winch said that Halpin was a well-spoken gambler who loved to play backgammon, a pastime for which Lucan, known as "Lucky" to his friends, was famous.

Richard John Bingham, the Seventh Earl of Lucan, has not been seen since the night of Nov. 7, 1974, when nanny Sandra Rivett was battered to death in the family's home in London's wealthy Belgravia district.

Lucan's wife Veronica was hit in the head repeatedly when she ran downstairs to investigate. Detectives believe Lucan intended to murder his wife — his marriage has been described as "grimly unhappy" — and killed the nanny by mistake.

Lucan's friends and family have long maintained that he drowned himself in the English Channel. Inside the car he left behind, police found a length of lead pipe and bloodstains matching the types of both Lucan and Sandra Rivett.

But at least 70 Lucan "sightings" have been reported since his disappearance, in such far-flung places as Melbourne and Johannesburg.

Some conspiracy theorists speculated that Lucan might be tempted to sneak an up-close peek at his daughter's London wedding in 1998, but even the most avid watchers failed to spot him. He was declared dead by the High Court in 1999.

MacLaughlin and co-writer William Hall acknowledged their evidence is tenuous, but said they were certain the man in the photos is Lucan.

Lucan was 39 when he disappeared and MacLaughlin says the photographs fit with his age and display his "broad, aristocratic forehead ... and distinctive eyebrows, and the crease that stood out between them."

The book also details MacLaughlin's interviews with locals in Goa who describe Halpin as camera-shy and reluctant to talk about his family. MacLaughlin said residents identified a picture of Lucan as Halpin.

It was during that visit to research his book that MacLaughlin discovered Halpin had died in 1996. His body was cremated.

"To be sure it was him we needed DNA. No one will ever have that," MacLaughlin told a press conference on Sunday.

"This book is about trying to establish beyond reasonable doubt that this was Lord Lucan. We are claiming we have overwhelming evidence. We have not got proof because there is no body," added Hall.

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