Episode Details

In July 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times on Wimbledon Common while her two-year-old son Alex witnessed the attack. Police soon focused on Colin Stagg, despite having no forensic evidence linking him to the murder, and launched the controversial Operation Edzell honeytrap in an attempt to obtain a confession. The case collapsed in 1994, but Stagg spent years publicly associated with a murder he did not commit.

The real killer was Robert Napper, a violent sexual offender police had missed multiple opportunities to stop. While Stagg was under suspicion, Napper murdered Samantha Bisset and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine. Advances in DNA testing eventually connected Napper to Rachel, and in 2008 he admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility. This episode explores the Rachel Nickell murder, Operation Edzell and one of Britain's most notorious police investigations.