Almost 35 years after Rachel Nickel's brutal murder--a case that had shocked Britain- the crime London froze returns to the spotlight through new Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video television productions, which revive one of the most shocking cases in modern history.
New productions -dramatized series and documentary- for the case in 1992attempt to relight the facts and circumstances surrounding crime.
Specifically, Netflix presents the series ‘The Witness’, as well as the documentary "The Murder of Rachel Nickel", which exploits archival material and expert testimonies.
At the same time, Amazon's Prime Video prepares the miniseries of two episodes "The Wimbledon Killer“ for the big deal.
The attack that shocked BritainShe was 15 July 1992 when 23-year-old Rachel was on a walk in Wimbledon Common along with her two-year-old son, Alex, and the family dog.
During the ride, she was suddenly and violently attacked, which resulted in her murder with multiple stab wounds.
The tragic incident took place in a public place and before the eyes of her young son, who was essentially the only eyewitness.
The case caused a shock to public opinion, while little Alex was at the heart of the police investigation. as one of the youngest children invited to provide information about such a serious crime.
After the incident, his father, André Hanscomb, decided to move with his son to France, fearing for his safety.
"It plays like a movie in my mind"
As an adult now, Alex Hanscomb he has publicly described the traumatic images he remembers since the attack, stating that the incident remains engraved in his memory.
As he has reported in his interviews, he remembers an unknown man approaching his mother and then the attack that followed, as well as the dramatic moments that followed after a child only 2 years old could not understand what had happened.
Shortly thereafter, a passing man found him still standing next to his mother, trying to wake her up and repeatedly repeating: "wake up, Mom".
He has described experience as an image that "plays like a movie in his mind", stressing that these memories remain alive even decades later.
The problematic course of police investigation
The initial police investigation of the case is considered to be highly controversial to date.
More than 30 suspects were interrogated, while eventually arrested and charged by the Colin StaggA man who lived in the area walking his dog in Wimbledon Common. However, his arrest was carried out without sufficient forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
Stagg remained in custody for about 13 months before being acquitted in 1994, while then compensated with a significant amount of moneyThe case caused strong reactions, as it was revealed that police had used controversial methods to extract a confession.
How the real killer of the murder was revealed
The case was reopened in early 2002, when the development of DNA analysis allowed the review of crime scene data. The results led to his identification Robert Napper, who was already incarcerated in a psychiatric structure for a series of violent attacks.
Napper He confessed to the murder of Rachel Nickel. and sentenced in 2008, ending one of the most discussed and controversial cases in the history of British forensics.
Despite the perpetrator's conviction, Rachel Nickel's family has focused more on her memory than on justification through the sentence. Her son, Alex, has stated that he has already forgiven his mother's killer long before his identity became known.
Today, he works as a yoga teacher and has written memoirs about his experience, aiming to manage loss and keep his mother's memory alive.
As she has reported, personal objects and memories, such as her perfume, are for him a way of connecting with the past.