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On 15th July 1992 23-year-old Rachel Nickell, a young mother out walking with her son, was savagely murdered on Wimbledon Common. Crimes that Shook Britain s3e1: Rachel Nickell, CI 2012
An operation that would lead to an innocent man being charged with murder. ibid.
The profiles, along with a photo-fit of a possible suspect, were featured in a national TV appeal. ibid.
Stagg had admitted being on the Common on the morning of the murder. ibid.
All their efforts had been focused on the wrong man. ibid.
One of the worst killers in British history could have been stopped in his tracks. ibid.
Napper would attack a woman walking with a child. ibid.
Police files were littered with clues that pointed to him being a depraved sex offender. ibid.
Napper was the Green Chain rapist. ibid.
Serial killer Robert Napper is one of Britain’s most dangerous and depraved killers. In 1995 he was sent to join fellow psychopath Peter Sutcliffe in Broadmoor for the horrific slaying of a mother and her four-year-old child. Then twelve years later he was convicted of one of the most high profile murder cases ever seen in the UK. Professor David Wilson, Killers Behind Bars: Robert Napper, Channel 5 2013
In 2009 the Independent Police Complaints Commission published a verdict on the catalogue of errors that allowed Napper to evade capture for years, during which time he left a trail of victims across the south-east of England. ibid.
Catastrophic blunders that would leave Napper free to attack women at will. The rape was one of the first of a series so disturbing that they became known as the Green Chain Rapes. ibid.
15th July 1992, Rachel Nickell murder: a crime that had laid unsolved for over a decade ... Rachel Nickell was brutally stabbed in a frenzied attack. ibid.
Stagg had been on the Common at the time, but what no-one realised was, so was Robert Napper. ibid.
A tiny speck of DNA discovered on Rachel’s body could be analysed. ibid.
A psychotic sexual predator who would stop at nothing to satisfy his violent hatred of women. ibid.
He was introduced to violence at an early age through his parents’ abusive relationship. ibid.
A victim of sexual abuse himself at a young age he became introverted and a recluse ... paranoid schizophrenia. ibid.
Random frenzied knife attacks with multiple stab wounds carried out in broad daylight. ibid.
Colin Stagg was the prime suspect in the Rachel Nickell murder case. He was charged after an undercover policewoman enticed him to talk about his fantasies of sex and violence. A judge threw the case out before a jury was even sworn in and condemned the murder squad tactics. Roger Cook, The Cook Report: Colin Stagg, ITV
In the summer of 1992 the savage killing of Rachel Nickell shocked the nation: it sparked a huge murder inquiry. Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s1e4: The Rachel Nickell Story, ITV 2001
Wimbledon Common, south London: Rachel had been stabbed 49 times. ibid.
Slowly Alex revealed the killer was a white man with short hair … The man had produced a knife from a black bag. ibid.
Detectives now believed that Colin Stagg was the killer. ibid.
In 1992 this young woman was murdered in broad daylight on Wimbledon Common in front of her two-year-old son. Rachel Nickell was stabbed 49 times and sexually assaulted in a crime that shocked the nation. This is a story of a flawed investigation into Rachel’s death, a story that saw an innocent man persecuted after a botched police undercover operation. It was to take the police 16 years to convict her real killer Robert Napper. Real Crime with Mark Austin s8e2: Rachel Nickell: Case Closed, ITV 2008
His victims were invariably women with their children. ibid.
Police had recovered DNA from three of the victims. ibid.
In the early 1990s south-east London was held in the grip of a serial rapist. The savage stalker was particular about his prey. As the violence intensified, his mind would turn to murder. But were these heinous crimes his destiny? Or was he born to kill? Born to Kill s6e1: Robert Napper, CI 2017
The 27-year-old was a doting mum. ibid.
This unusual behaviour [at school] would make him an easy target. ibid.
His life had become increasingly isolated. ibid.
But one July morning in 1992 the peaceful family-friendly atmosphere was shattered by the discovery of the body of young mother Rachel Nickell. ibid.
The campaign of terror would become increasingly violent. ibid.
‘Police are appealing for witnesses after the brutal murder of a young mother in a south London park.’ Rachel Nickell: The Untold Story, news, ITV 2018
The murder of Rachel Nickell 25 years ago appalled the nation. ibid.
While the press hounded Colin [Stagg], serial killer Robert Napper roamed free and murdered again. ibid.
‘Police say the terrified son saw his mother being murdered.’ ibid. news
An astonishingly misguided police honey trap. ibid.
It would take 14 years before the police would finally identify the real killer and realise he could been stopped from killing again. ibid.
15th July 1992 London, England: on a summer morning 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was walking her dog Molly across Wimbledon Common with her 2-year-old son Alex. A man appeared from the undergrowth stabbing Rachel nearly 50 times then sexually assaulting her. Britain’s Most Evil Killers s4e7: Robert Napper, Sky Crime 2020
The depraved killer was 26-year-old Robert Napper. 16 months later he would strike again. ibid.
‘Police are appealing for witnesses after the murder of a young mother in a South London park. The body of the woman who was attacked in broad daylight was discovered on Wimbledon Common this morning. Her throat had been cut and it is thought she’d been sexually assaulted. Her two-year-old son was found clinging to her body.’ Death on the Common: My Mother’s Murder, news report, Channel 4 2021
‘And I said, Wake up Mummy, one more time, and she didn’t respond.’ ibid.