The Man in New Zealand is not Lord Lucan - good story though...

The man claimed to be Lord Lucan and residing in a small New Zealand town is not Lord Lucan.

The resemblance to lord lucan is incredible it was claimed. Take off the tweed hat and moustache, add a few years and you've got him.

He may be British. He may have been 'on the run' for 33 years, but Roger Wodgate sys he is definately not Lord Lucan as suggested in news stories around the world yesterday.

Asleep in th back of a Landrover on the outskirts of Marton a little town in the North Island of New Zealand with his pet possum and a goat named Camilla, is a long way and a perfect hideaway for an aristocrat on the run fro murder.

The 62 year old, Mr Woodate, is ten years too young and a few centimetres short in stature - too short to be the real Lucan.

"He laughed when he heard the news stories on the radio," he said.

He wishes he was the real Lord Lucan, because he took out a two million pound life insurance on Lady Lucan only two weeks before he took her life.

However, the real Roger Woodgate as he is, is a beneficiary who left London for Palmerston North in New Zealand in 1974. He blames a neighbour for the misinformation regarding the rumour that he was acually Lord Lucan.

The neighbour said it was comments from Mr Woodgate himself to other neighbours that sparked her curiosity.He claimed that he owned two properties in London, and told another person he was considering returning to Ireland. His family is related to the Lucan family, and that probably explains the uncanny resemblance to Lord Lucan.

The neighbour remains unconvinced - she wants a dna test and fingerprints before she changes her mind.

Mr Woodgate, very tongue in cheek, said he was considering moving to Peru in search of the freedom he had in New Zealand previously.

Kiwi Riverman