Does East Grinstead hold the key to the disappearance of Lord Lucan?

PLAYBOY peer Lord Lucan may have had face-changing surgery in East Grinstead before he vanished.

Private papers belonging to plastic surgeon Dr John Watson, discovered following his death in January, reveal that the 7th Earl of Lucan had undergone facial surgery following a speedboat accident.

But the eminent Harley Street specialist's daughter, Carolyn, believes her father could have operated again after Lord Lucan disappeared following the murder of his children's nanny in 1974.

And as Dr Watson trained under Sir Archibald McIndoe and later practised at the Queen Victoria Hospital, it could have been where the operation was carried out.

The latest twist in the mystery of the disappearing peer was revealed in BBC television's Inside Out programme last week.

In the film 'Lord Lucan's Plastic Surgeon', reporter Glenn Campbell referred to the medical files which showed there had been facial surgery before the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett.

The vanishing Lord had previously had surgery in September 1963, following his speedboat accident.

Among those interviewed was Bob Marchant, a theatre technician with Sir Archibald and with Dr Watson at East Grinstead.

"I knew Dr Watson because I worked with him," Mr Marchant told the Courier and Observer.

"I don't remember anything to do with Lord Lucan and even if I did, I wouldn't say because of patient confidentiality."

Dr Watson's daughter Carolyn, 65, now lives in Australia.

Her father died in January at the age of 94, and it was while she was sorting through his private papers that previously unseen medical records were found.

Carolyn contacted the BBC reporter and also told a Sunday newspaper.

Her father and the peer had "got to know each other fairly well," she said.

"I asked him many times if he had carried out more work on Lord Lucan's face and he never gave me a straight answer.

"But I know he was sympathetic to him and I have no doubt that if my father felt he should have helped him he would have done."

Dr Watson performed follow-up operations on many of Sir Archibald's "Guinea Pigs" at East Grinstead.

After his training, he was appointed to the consultant staff at QVH and later to hospitals in London.

The documentary also revealed Dr Watson had performed surgery on a host of top figures from the aristocracy and world of entertainment, including one of the infamous Kray brothers.