The Witness: What happened to Colin Stagg, the man wrongly accused of Rachel Nickell’s murder, and where is real killer Robert Napper now?
Police failings led to the wrong man spending over a year in custody for a murder he didn't commit
Netflix's true crime drama The Witness, and its accompanying documentary The Murder of Rachel Nickell, are giving viewers a fresh look at a shocking crime that gripped the nation in the 90s.
The three-part dramatisation of the case depicts what happened when 23-year-old Rachel was walking her dog on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alex Hanscombe, when she was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times.
The series prioritises the experience and subsequent trauma of Alex, who was forced to relive what happened to police, as he'd been the only witness to the crime.
With the case coming under intense scrutiny and public outcry, the police needed to quickly name a suspect. However, they initially arrested the wrong man, Colin Stagg, and the real killer wasn't found until 16 years later.
What happened to Colin Stagg?
After Rachel's death, police launched an appeal for information on Crimewatch, and Colin Stagg's name was given as a tip-off. He was 29-years-old at the time.
He lived in Roehampton and like Rachel, often walked his dog on Wimbledon Common. A criminal psychologist working with the Metropolitan Police had created an 'offender profile' which it was thought Colin fitted, despite the fact there was no forensic evidence linking him to the case.
An undercover officer was then used as a 'honey trap' to gain Colin's trust and feign romantic interest in him, to try and get him to confess to Rachel's murder.
Using the persona of 'Lizzie James,' an officer claimed to be the friend of someone who Colin had met through a Lonely Hearts column.
He was later arrested, despite never admitting anything to the undercover officer, who was said to have pressed him to reveal himself as the culprit.
Consequently, Colin spent 13 months in police custody and stood trial for Rachel's murder in February 1994.
However, the case collapsed after the judge condemned police tactics used to arrest him as "deceptive conduct of the grossest kind" and he was acquitted.
As the real killer wasn't found until 2007, Colin endured constant speculation surrounding whether he could've been involved in Rachel's death, even after his case was thrown out.
He was later awarded £706,000 in compensation for wrongful arrest. Speaking 25 years after the events, Colin told Lorraine Kelly, "I don't remember much of it, it's like it happened to someone else."
"When I was in prison I didn't have faith in the justice system at all, and I thought I was going to be convicted on a technicality."
He has done his best to move on with his life, and just wishes the apology made to him had been done face-to-face, rather than through television.
Where is Robert Napper now?
Robert Napper remains detained indefinitely at Broadmoor hospital. A diagnosed schizophrenic, he was already an inmate at the hospital for previous offenses.
It wasn't until 2004 that advances in forensic testing linked Robert to Rachel's murder. A tiny sample of DNA was found on her body soon after her death, but was too small to be analysed at the time.
Technological advances later confirmed the sample to be a match to Robert, who pleaded manslaughter instead of murder on grounds of diminished responsibility.
When sentencing him, the judge said, "You stabbed her a total of 49 times and you even stabbed her when she was dead. All the while Alex was there. The marks of injury upon his face proved that at some time you almost certainly in my judgement dragged him away from his mother."
He concluded, "Now, 16 years or so later, in early adulthood, Alex knows the man who killed his mother has been brought, albeit belatedly, to justice. It may be that he can now close a long drawn out chapter in his life."
The Witness and accompanying documentary The Murder of Rachel Nickell are available on Netflix from June 4.
