A mystery bidder from the Isle of Man snapped up belongings of Lord Lucan at an auction this week.

Lord Lucan disappeared in 1974 after killing his family’s nanny.

Among the items bought were a silk top hat, which fetched £2,200.

Most of the items were bought by a mystery buyer.

According to the Daily Mirror, bidders at the sale shouted: ’Is Lord Lucan buying his own things back?’

The newspaper said there were gasps in the auction room as the anonymous buyer - bidding from the island via the internet - kept winning successive lots at Holloway’s Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Lucan’s yacht’s flagpole, cap and red ensign flag had been priced at £50 yet sold for £3,400.

A silver-plated wine cooler was expected to go for £80 but raised £1,500. And his House of Lords ermine gown made £360 instead of £80.

Potential buyers came from as far away as Australia.

Auctioneer James Lees said: ’You won’t get the chance to buy these sort of items again.’

But most had no opportunity of affording anything as internet bids spiralled.

Mr Lees said later: ’We were very pleased with how it went. Items sold for far more than expected.’

He added that it was the first time the auction house had known an online bidder from the Isle of Man.

The memorabilia was sold after being cleared from Lucan’s former home in Belgravia, west London.

His wife Lady Lucan killed herself there last year, 43 years after he fled.

Oil paintings by her, expected to make £80, sold for £1,300.