NEED TO KNOW
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Andre Hanscombe was in an "inseparable" relationship with Rachel Nickell when she was fatally stabbed in front of their young son.
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The case remained unsolved for more than a decade until a second examination revealed that Robert Napper was the killer.
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Andre, who moved to France and then Spain after the murder, recounted the tragedy in a Netflix documentary. «"The Murder of Rachel Nickell.".
Andre Hanscombe's life changed forever when his partner, Rachel Nickell, was brutally murdered in front of their two-year-old son.
Several years earlier, Andre and Nickell had fallen in love, and at 19, she became pregnant with their child, Alex. They raised their son in southwest London while Andre worked as a motorcycle courier.
On the morning of July 15, 1992, Andre was at work when he called to check on Nickell and Alex, but a police officer answered instead and told him that Nickell had been murdered. According to The Guardian , She was walking with their then two-year-old son on Wimbledon Field near their home when she was stabbed around 50 times.
Police struggled to find the culprit and turned to Andre for help to find out if Alex remembered anything about the crime, but the emotional trauma eventually proved too much for the little boy.
About a year after the murder, Colin Stagg was arrested and charged in connection with the death, but vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Before his trial began, a judge acquitted him on the grounds that police had used "deceptive tactics"—including an undercover "love letter" operation—to "lure" him into a trap, according to The Guardian .
The case remained unsolved for over a decade until the murder investigation was handed over to a cold case team of forensic experts. The team was able to obtain a partial fingerprint of the killer and later identified him as Robert Napper, who had already been committed to a psychiatric hospital for the murder of a mother and her young daughter nearly two years after Nickell's death. In December 2008, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Nickell's murder.
Both Andre and Alex discussed the tragic event and how it changed their lives in a Netflix documentary. «The Murder of Rachel Nickell» , which was released on the streaming platform on June 4. Andre also played Jordan Bolger in the Netflix drama series about the case, titled «"Witness"» .
Here's everything you need to know about where Andre Hanscombe is now, more than 30 years after the murder of his partner, Rachel Nickell.
Who is Andre Hanscombe?
Rachel Nickell and Andre Hanscombe with their son Alex. Photo: Courtesy of Andre Hanscombe/Netflix.
As reported by The Guardian , Andre met Nickell at the pool where she worked as a lifeguard.
By the time he was 25 and she was 19, she became pregnant with their first child, and in 1989, their son Alexander (Alex) Louis Hanscombe was born.
Andre worked as a motorcycle courier around London, while she looked after Alex in their flat in south London.
What happened to Andre's partner?
Rachel Nickell and Andre Hanscombe. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.
On the morning of July 15, 1992, after Andre had left for work in London, Nickell took two-year-old Alex and their dog, Molly, for a walk in Wimbledon Park.
While on a secluded trail, Napper attacked Nickell from behind, stabbed her 49 times, and sexually assaulted her. She was 23 years old.
Alex was found unharmed, clinging to the body of his dead mother, when they were discovered by a dog walker after the tragic attack.
What happened to Andre after Nickell's murder?
Alex Hanscombe and Andre Hanscombe. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
When Andre made his usual phone call to Nickell later that morning, he instantly knew something was wrong when a man answered.
«"My blood ran cold," he recalled in the Netflix documentary. "I knew immediately that something was seriously wrong." Andre recalled that person was a police officer who told him that Nickell had been in an accident, but Alex was safe.
«"The moment I hung up the phone, I collapsed on the floor and burst into tears," Andre said.
When police began investigating the tragic death, Andre cooperated with authorities by bringing Alex, a witness to the tragic murder, to several sessions with a child psychologist and a police officer in hopes of obtaining a more accurate description of the suspect.
However, over time, Andre decided to pack his things and move to a remote village in France to protect Alex in case the killer returned.
When Stagg was wrongfully arrested and charged with Nickell's murder, Andre said it brought him "a certain sense of relief," but he still maintained a "wait-and-see attitude." Upon learning Stagg was acquitted in 1994, Andre admitted he was "angry" at both the police and the judge.
«"It felt like we were back to day one, when the killer was out there and there was no protection," he recalled, adding that he was "left with the feeling that I couldn't trust anyone.".
In 2002, a new cold case investigation team was brought in to investigate, which reportedly The Times newspaper , was finally able to establish with the help of forensic evidence that the perpetrator was Napper.
Upon learning of this, Andre met with police, who informed him that Napper had also killed a mother and her 4-year-old daughter nearly two years after Nickell's murder. According to The Guardian , Napper was also involved in a series of rapes in the 1980s known as the "Green Chain.".
«"At that moment, our worst-case scenario came true: the same person, under the same circumstances, killed another person. Another family was destroyed," Andre said in the documentary.
Where is Andre Hanscombe now?
Andre Hanscombe. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.
Andre and Alex continued to live in the small French town for a few more years before moving to Spain, where, as they said The Guardian In 2017, they settled in a new location.
After moving to Spain, Andre began coaching tennis players, while Alex studied music and yoga around the world. Although they physically distanced themselves from the trauma they had experienced, both continued to suffer from guilt and grief.
«"I felt an immense sense of guilt for not protecting my family," Andre said in the Netflix documentary. "And you feel stupid, you feel foolish, because we're told to entrust our safety to other agencies, and back then, it was the Wild West, and you took the law into your own hands, protecting your loved ones by any means necessary. That's what struck me then—I didn't do that, and I regret that I didn't.".
Although Andre and Alex initially struggled to maintain a strong relationship, they bonded over their shared grief and remain close friends.
Thirty-four years after Nickell's death, Andre still wonders why she was killed.
«"What bothered me most was, 'Why,' you know?" he said. "You know, I was filled with anger at God for allowing such things to happen to good people without any explanation. So I had a mission—to help Rachel's child get through this as best I could.".
Read the original article on People.