this week we're covering the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, London.... one of the most mishandled cases in metropolitan police history.

Rachel was 23 years old when she was attacked and killed during a morning walk with her two-year-old son, Alex, and their dog molly. the case that followed lasted sixteen years and destroyed the life of an innocent man before dna evidence finally identified the real killer: Robert Napper, a serial rapist already detained at broadmoor hospital.

we cover:

who Rachel was and the life she was building
what Alex witnessed and what he told police
the offender profile that derailed the entire investigation
operation Edzell — the five-month undercover honeytrap targeting colin stagg
the old bailey collapse and what acquittal actually looked like for colin
Robert Napper's history and the multiple times police could have stopped him
the Bisset murders
the cold case DNA work that cracked it open
the IPCC report and the catalogue of failures it confirmed
where Colin, Alex, and Andre are now

if you want to go deeper: netflix's the murder of rachel nickell (documentary) and the witness (drama series) are both streaming now. alex and andré hanscombe consulted on both.

sources used in this episode: wikipedia, crime+investigation uk, the guardian, bbc, time magazine, the sun, ipcc 2010 commissioner's report, biography.com, thecinemaholic, people magazine, oxygen.com, primetimer, courtnewsuk, tvguide.co.uk