Taking a Stand - 16/11/2010

Fergal Keane talks to André Hanscombe, partner of Rachel Nickell who was murdered on Wimbledon common in 1992. Their three year old son Alex was found clinging to her body. Colin Stagg was charged with the killing. He would turn out to be innocent. Meanwhile the real murderer, Robert Napper, would go on to kill and rape again. It would be more than a decade before advances in DNA enabled the police to link Napper with the murder of Rachel Nickell. André Hanscombe talks for the first time about why he fought to have the full facts of the investigation disclosed by taking a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Their report detailed a catalogue of "dreadful mistakes" by the Metropolitan Police which allowed Robert Napper to slip through the net time and time again. André Hanscombe received a public apology from the Police but they declined to offer compensation.