Kriti Mehrotra
When Rachel Jane Nickell was found dead in a secluded area of Wimbledon Common in London, England, on July 15, 1992, it was evident she was a victim of a frenzied, heinous attack. The 23-year-old mother of one had been walking with her toddler son, Alexander “Alex” Hanscombe, and their dog when she lost her life, making them witnesses to the crime. However, as explored in Netflix’s Lucy Bowden-directed ‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell,’ it wasn’t until the late 2000s that her assailant was positively identified, charged, and convicted.
Rachel Nickell Was Sexually Assaulted and Stabbed to Death in the Presence of Her Son
Born on November 23, 1968, in Essex, England, to loving homemaker Monica Nickell and kind army officer Andrew Nickell, Rachel Jane Nickell was the joy in her family’s tight-knit unit. She reportedly grew up in the wondrous village of Great Totham in an environment of care, optimism, and support at every step, which cultivated in her an unwavering sense of confidence. She thus never hesitated to embrace her passion for acting, dancing, or singing, which led her to be part of the Essex Theatre for most of her pre-pubescent and teenage years.
However, upon graduating from Colchester High School for Girls, Rachel decided not to move forward in the world of arts; instead, she pursued academic degrees in English and History. It was while she was a full-time university student that she also landed a lifeguard position at a local swimming pool in 1988, only to soon come across the love of her life, André Hanscombe. There was a 6-year age difference between her and the motorbike courier and the semi-pro tennis player, but it didn’t matter in the long run as they realized they shared something special. Hence, it came as no surprise that when she fell pregnant with their son, Alexander “Alex” Hanscombe, and learned her partner was genuinely committed, she left university to move in with him.
Rachel became a proud stay-at-home mother in 1989, with dreams of her small family one day moving out of Balham, South London, to settle somewhere rural outside England altogether. Unfortunately, everything turned upside down for them on the morning of July 15, 1992, when she left home alongside almost 3-year-old Alex to walk their dog in nearby Wimbledon Common. They were in a secluded area when they were jumped from behind, with the assailant then brandishing a knife, sexually assaulting the mother, and stabbing her 49 times across the neck and chest. The 23-year-old was found by a passerby a while later, with her toddler son having put paper to her forehead as a bandage and clinging to her bloody remains while repeating “Wake up, Mummy.”
Rachel Nickell’s Case Went Cold After the Alleged Lead Suspect Was Acquitted
Since 2-year-old Alex was physically unharmed from the ordeal and the sole witness to his mother’s murder, officials questioned him a few times in the presence of a child psychologist and his father. Despite their best intentions, they had him relive the worst moments of his life over and over again, which caused him such distress that André ultimately put an end to it. However, by that point, the toddler had already managed to provide them with details of the attack and a description of the assailant, the murder weapon, as well as his actions while fleeing the scene. On the other hand, investigators had canvassed the entire expansive area of the common and nearby areas in the hopes of finding some additional evidence, but to no avail.
According to records, the Metropolitan Police questioned 32 men in connection with Rachel’s brutal homicide before zeroing in on a then-29-year-old unemployed local named Colin Stagg. There was no forensic evidence linking him to the incident as the initial analysis of the victim’s clothes or remains yielded no DNA, but he did match the offender profile established by a criminal psychologist. Therefore, a covert mission code-named Operation Edzell was set into place to see if he would implicate himself, resulting in his arrest for murder in August 1993. As part of Operation Edzell, an undercover officer feigned romantic interest to get to know him over a few months, during which they met regularly, spoke on the phone, and exchanged letters.
The duo essentially discussed everything from their personal history to their deepest secrets to their sexual fantasies, with the fantasies being one of the primary catalysts for his ultimate arrest. Even though Colin had asserted at one point that he hadn’t killed the Wimbledon Common victim, he was still taken into custody, charged with murder, and denied bail until he stood trial. In the end, in September 1994, a judge threw out the case upon noting the police had tried to incriminate him by using “deceptive conduct of the grossest kind” – the honeytrap tactic. Thus, with no other circumstantial or physical evidence against him, the prosecution withdrew its case against the then-30-year-old, and he was acquitted. This led the case to go cold.
Rachel Nickell’s Perpatrator Was Identified Through DNA Evidence
While Rachel’s homicide started being re-investigated in the late 1990s, it wasn’t until 2002 that Scotland Yard brought together a cold case review team to look into it with advanced forensic techniques. That’s when it came to light that the victim did have foreign DNA on her clothes as well as remains, but it wasn’t caught a decade prior, owing to its small amount and the limited technology at the time. So, the team began looking into the assailant’s genealogy, all the while finding a way to perfectly multiply the sample they had managed to recover, resulting in them eventually having a full DNA profile. This led them directly to Robert Napper.
A London native, Robert was arrested in 1994 in connection with the heinous November 1993 double homicide of 28-year-old Samantha Bisset and her 4-year-old daughter Jazmine in their own home. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the matter in October 1995, claiming diminished responsibility as he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. He also admitted to two unrelated rapes and two attempted rapes at this time, so he was subsequently remanded into the high-security Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital in Berkshire, England.
Robert Napper is Incarcerated in a Psychiatric Facility
Robert was questioned in connection with Rachel’s death back in the mid-1990s, but he denied any involvement in the matter until DNA evidence positively linked him to the same. He was charged with her murder on November 28, 2007, almost a year before his trial commenced on November 11, 2008. However, a little over a month later, he ended up pleading guilty to one count of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, as a result of which he was ordered to remain at Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital indefinitely. That’s where he is still detained today at age 60.
Read More: Alex Hanscombe: Where is Rachel Nickell’s Son Now?
