Almost 35 years after Rachel Nickell was brutally murdered, her story is being shared on screen. The infamous 1992 tragedy which took place in broad daylight—with Nickell's infant son as the only witness—is at the center of a wave of TV retellings, including two Netflix projects. As announced in March 2025, Netflix adapted the crime story into the dramatized series The Witness, and are accompanying the series’ June 4 premiere with a documentary, The Murder of Rachel Nickell. (Prime Video will also be releasing a two-part docuseries on Nickell later this year, titled The Wimbledon Killer.)
Directed by Lucy Bowen, The Murder of Rachel Nickell utilizes exclusive archival footage to contextualize interviews about the case with forensic experts. Meanwhile, The Witness, a three-part fictionalized true crime adaptation created by Rob Williams, had Nickell's son Alex Hanscombe and his father André Hanscombe serve as consultants. The Witness focuses largely on how the Hanscombes coped after Nickell's death, as André tried to protect his young son amid the investigation.
Here’s what to know about the case that has inspired the current media frenzy.
Nickell with her husband André and their son Alex
On July 15, 1992, British model Rachel Nickell was on a walk through Wimbledon Common in South West London with her son Alex, aged 2, and their dog, Molly. The 23-year-old mother was attacked out of nowhere, sexually assaulted, and stabbed 49 times until she died—all in broad daylight as her son looked on. Her murder thrust Alex into the spotlight as the sole witness and one of the youngest sources ever for police questioning
Alex's father André opted to relocate his family to rural France out of fear for his son’s safety, since Nickell's killer was still on the loose.
As an adult, Alex has reflected on surviving the attack that took his mother's life. “The moment I watched my mother’s soul leave her body is one I will never forget," he told The Sun in 2017. "It’s all remained engraved in my mind. It was a frenzied attack but like a silent movie...Even today, almost 25 years later, I can still see the film running inside my mind."
What Alex saw—and what he remembers today
Alex Hanscombe today —Courtesy of NetflixAlex is still haunted by witnessing his mother's murder, and claims that he saw the killer emerge from the park bushes to attack Nickell. “We saw a stranger who was lurching towards us and he had a black bag over his shoulder," Alex told The Sun. “Then I was grabbed and thrown to the ground, my face dragged across the mud. A few seconds later my mother collapsed beside me."
Alex allegedly saw Nickell's killer wash the blood off his hands in the nearby stream. "He just disappeared off into the distance like a ghost," he said.
Alex tried to revive his mother without realizing she had been killed. “There was blood everywhere. Everything was silent," he recalled. “I said, ‘Get up, Mummy’ and she didn’t respond. Then for the last time, with all my strength I said, ‘Get up, Mummy.’ She didn’t. At that moment, reality came crashing down. I was very young but I knew at that moment she had gone and she was never coming back. The memory of that moment has remained with me to this day."
Alex sought help from other parkgoers, who quickly called an ambulance after seeing the toddler wandering through the trees covered in blood. Alex's father André met him at the police station, where he told Alex that there had been a "terrible accident" that led to Nickell's death.
Despite being the sole witness, Alex was not questioned by detectives about his mother’s attacker for three weeks after the murder. But that was merely the start of the bungled case.
A still of Max Fincham and Jordan Bolger portraying father and son in The Witness —Courtesy of Netflix
Thirty-two men were interrogated by police officers about Nickell's death. It took more than a year before detectives charged the one they believed to be the killer: an unemployed man named Colin Stagg, who often walked his dog through Wimbledon Common. Stagg was charged with Nickell's murder in August 1993, without any forensic evidence linking him to the scene of the crime. He remained in custody for 13 months until a judge cleared him of Nickell's murder in 1994. Stagg was later compensated £706,000 for the wrongful charge, especially after London police were found to have used “honey trap” methods to coerce a false confession by Stagg. Stagg appeared, decades later, in the 2023 documentary The Murder That Changed Britain alongside Professor Paul Britton, the forensic psychologist on the Nickell case who originally pinpointed him to be a possible suspect. His clearance, of course, meant the killer was still out there.
New technology leads to a breakthrough
A still of the dramatization in The Witness —Courtesy of NetflixThe case wasn’t reopened until a decade after Stagg was cleared. By 2002, advanced DNA techniques allowed for authorities to reexamine the DNA found on Nickell's corpse. They found a match with convicted murderer Robert Napper, leading him to become the main suspect. Napper was already indefinitely detained at Broadmoor Hospital for a series of rape attacks starting in 1989 on Plumstead Common in South East London. Napper was later found guilty of Nickell’s murder, and even confessed to the crime, leading to his conviction in 2008.
Yet Nickell's family had "made peace" with her killer years prior to even knowing who was to blame. “The first time I saw Napper’s picture, I felt nothing," Alex told The Sun in 2017. "Putting him behind bars brings me no satisfaction. I’d forgiven my mum’s killer long before I knew it was Napper."
“He had a tough upbringing and childhood. He was a schizophrenic. He tried to commit suicide after his first attack on a woman before my mum, so he knew what he was doing was wrong," said Alex, who now works as a yoga teacher.
Rachel Nickell's Legacy
Nickell and her family in an undated photo —Courtesy of NetflixInstead of allowing Napper's conviction to overshadow Nickell's life story, Alex hopes his late mother's legacy will be one of police reform.
“The police made a series of mistakes," Alex said. "I believe the same would happen now, sadly. Their mistakes led to over 80 women being assaulted. For as long as there is a culture of dark corridors in the police force, I feel that terrible mistakes like those in my mum’s case will happen again."
Alex wrote a memoir, Letting Go: A True Story Of Murder, Loss & Survival, to document his experience in the wake of his mother’s death. Now, he continues to challen his energy into ways to remember his mom.
“I still remember her smile, her smell, the sound of her voice," Alex said. "She used Coco by Chanel, and I still have that at home along with jewelry and pictures of her. It helps to evoke memories of her."
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