Rachel Nickell’s three-year-old son tells of second he witnessed mom’s homicide: Youngster reveals how killer ‘caught knife’ into her whereas strolling canine on Wimbledon Common
This is the astonishing moment a three-year-old boy chatted with his father about the knife-wielding murderer who killed his mother in front of him in a London park.
Rachel Nickell, 23, was stabbed 49 times on Wimbledon Common while walking her dog Molly with her son Alex on July 15, 1992 in a crime that shocked the nation.
Miss Nickell was also sexually assaulted by the attacker before he fled – and Alex was found by a passer-by next to his mother, repeatedly saying: ‘Wake up, Mummy.’
Now, previously-unseen home video which features in a new Netflix documentary – revealed exclusively by the Daily Mail this morning – has shown Alex speaking to his father André Hanscombe about the horror he had witnessed when he was aged two.
The clip shows Alex and André sat at a table, with the boy dressed in a Thunderbirds outfit as he says: ‘Dadda, can you help me draw Mummy on this piece of paper?’
André then calmly says to his son: ‘Alex, look at me. When you saw the bad man, was he in front of me like I am, or was he on this side, or was he on that side?’
Alex says that the man was ‘in front of me’. Andre asks: ‘Did Mummy see him?’ Alex says: ‘I don’t think she did’ and then confirms that he saw the man first.
Alex says the man had a bag. Andre asks: ‘Did he open it, or was it already open?’ Alex says: ‘He opened it.’ Andre asks: ‘And what did he get out?’ Alex says: ‘A knife.’
Alex Hanscombe speaks to his father André Hanscombe about his mother Rachel Nickell’s murder in a previously-unseen home video which is included in a new Netflix documentary
A newly-released photograph of Rachel Nickell and André Hanscombe with their son Alex
Alex Hanscombe is pictured now, 33 years since he witnessed the murder of his mother
André Hanscombe, pictured now, features in the new programme which comes out in June
Rachel Nickell and André Hanscombe are photographed following the birth of their son Alex
André Hanscombe holds son Alex as they visit the site of the murder at Wimbledon Common to try jog Alex’s memory about what happened given that he was the only witness
Andre then asks his son: ‘What did he do to you?’ Alex is heard saying: ‘He knocked me over.’ Alex draws a picture on paper, and Andre asks: ‘What’s he sticking in her?’
Alex says: ‘A knife, there’s his knife.’ When Andre asks him whether ‘did you see it’, Alex replies: ‘Yeah, I saw the knife.’ The boy adds: ‘I saw it, yeah I saw it all.’
Hi, I’m Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.
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After the murder, André moved with Alex to rural France to start a new life and to avoid him being found – given the boy was the only person to have witnessed his mother’s killing and was therefore in danger while the killer was still at large.
Speaking in the present day, André tells the programme: ‘My son witnessed his mother’s murder but nobody could have possibly known how long it was going to take to find the person who did this.’
Some 32 men were questioned following the murder and the original suspect Colin Stagg – a local man who walked his dog on the common – spent 13 months in custody, enduring more than a decade of speculation that he was the killer.
Stagg was freed by an Old Bailey judge in 1994 who criticised police for using a ‘honeytrap’ undercover policewoman to try to make him confess to the murder.
Mr Justice Ognall, who halted the trial, called it a ‘blatant attempt to incriminate a suspect by positive and deceptive conduct of the grossest kind’.
The case was reopened by Scotland Yard in 2002 using advanced DNA forensic techniques that had developed in the intervening years and identified convicted murderer Robert Napper as a suspect.
Napper pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in 2008 and was ordered to be detained indefinitely at Broadmoor Hospital.
Rachel Nickell with her son Alex, who was the only witness to her murder on July 15, 1992
Rachel Nickell and her son Alex, who watched as she was stabbed while walking her dog
André Hanscombe, following the death of his partner Rachel Nickell in South West London
Alex and his mother Rachel Nickell, in an image released by Netflix for the new documentary
André Hanscombe speaks in a police appeal following the death of his partner Rachel Nickell
At the same time, Stagg was awarded £706,000 compensation from the Home Office for the bungled probe, but revealed in 2017 that he had spent all the cash.
Alex, now in his mid-30s, has spoken in recent years about his ordeal – including to the Daily Mail in September 2021, when he said: ‘My strongest memory is of waving goodbye to my father at home.
‘Then it moves on to walking hand-in-hand with my mother on the common. I remember making our way into the trees, walking with our dog, Molly. I remember a stranger walking up towards us. I remember being grabbed and thrown around roughly.
‘And I remember my mother being grabbed and thrown around, collapsing on the floor beside me. And I remember the realisation of what happened.
‘I said: ‘Wake up, Mummy.’ And she didn’t respond. So I said again: ‘Wake up, Mummy,’ and she didn’t respond… I knew my mother was gone. She wasn’t coming back.’
The new documentary from Bafta-nominated director Lucy Bowden examines the police investigation with archive footage, first-hand accounts and forensic insights.
Emma Tutty, Tanya Winston and Danny Horan were the executive producers for the programme, which was produced by Blast Films.
‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell’ will air on Netflix from June 4
