Rachel Nickell

Who was Rachel Nickell?

The murder of Rachel Jane Nickell took place on 15 July 1992, on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, and resulted in a highly-publicised and controversial investigation.

On 15 July 1992, Nickell was walking with her son on Wimbledon Common when she was brutally stabbed and sexually assaulted. A lengthy, expensive, and controversial investigation ensued, during which Colin Stagg was falsely charged and acquitted before the case went cold. In 2002, with more advanced and refined forensic techniques available, Scotland Yard reopened the case, and on 18 December 2008, Robert Napper pleaded guilty to Nickell's manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Napper, who had already been convicted of a 1993 double killing, was told by the Old Bailey judge that he would be held indefinitely at Broadmoor High Security hospital.