The Wimbledon Murder

On the 15th of July 1992, Rachel Nickell, her son Alex and their dog Molly went for a walk on Wimbledon Common. It was a bright, summer morning and plenty of Londoners were enjoying the natural space, completely unaware of the predator in their midst.

Rachel (23), Alex (2), and Molly were walking through a quiet part of the park when an attacker grabbed Rachel. The man stabbed Rachel repeatedly with a knife, killing her in front of her young son. Then he sexually assaulted her, washed his hands in a nearby stream, and left the Common.

A while later, a dog walker found Alex clinging to his mother’s body and saying ‘please wake up Mummy.’

A Police Investigation Like No Other

With such a young witness and little physical evidence, police had no suspects initially.

Anyone on Wimbledon Common at the time was interviewed and, except for one woman who saw a man ‘acting strangely,’ no one had witnessed anything.

A Criminal Profiler was hired and told police that they should look for a white male who lived nearby, was young and single, and probably unemployed or an unskilled worker. It was also considered likely that the man would live alone or with his Mum, have a bike but no car, have a previous sex offense, and would have difficulties with women. According to the psychologist, the killer would like porn and possibly martial arts — he’d also be sexually inexperienced and a poor-quality boyfriend.

From Alex, police received a description and drew up a sketch of the killer.

Police enlisted the public’s help through the popular 1990’s TV Show — CrimeWatch.

YouTube video of the full Crime Watch Episode from 1992.

The show makes for shocking viewing as the Detective appeals specifically to women as we, ‘have an instinct for odd men’ and would be able to spot the characteristics listed by the Profiler. The Detective goes on to reassure any caller that they’re doing the right thing by the person they’re calling about, as the police will get them ‘seen to.’

As with all of these shows, 1000s of calls were received and police soon had the name of a man who’d been reported multiple times.

Additionally, Julie, the man’s ex-girlfriend* had called to say that she’d met him through a lonely heart’s column** two years earlier, but had ended their relationship after he described sexual fantasies involving woodland and a knife.

That man’s name was Colin Stagg.

Colin Stagg Under Arrest

Police arrested Colin Stagg, searched his home, and dug into his past.

Stagg was in his late 20s, lived alone, was unemployed, single, and a virgin, and matched the criminal profile almost to the letter.

Police questioned Stagg extensively about complaints of him sunbathing naked on Wimbledon Common, and he readily admitted that was something he did.

Stagg also admitted to walking his own dog on Wimbledon Common on the day Rachel was killed — he had in fact approached a police offer and handed over his details voluntarily as a potential witness.

Unable to elicit a confession, and with no physical evidence, police arranged an identity parade. The witness was the woman who’d reported seeing a man ‘acting strangely’ on Wimbledon Common before Rachel’s murder.

Without hesitation, she picked out Colin Stagg.

Operation Edzell

Unable to pin anything concrete on Colin Stagg, but certain that they had their man, police launched one of the most shocking and infamous operations in British police history.

Operation Edzell aimed to lure Colin Stagg into a relationship with a female undercover officer in the hope that she’d be able to seduce a confession from him.

Posing as a friend of Julie, an officer code-named Lizzie wrote to Colin, claiming to have read the letter that ended their relationship. Lizzie claimed that she was more adventurous than Julie and shared the types of sexual fantasies he’d outlined in his original letter.

Over the coming year, Colin and Lizzie spoke regularly on the telephone and sent over 40 letters. Stagg believed himself to be in a relationship and the ‘couple’ met up for a walk and lunch.

On their first date, Lizzie confessed to Stagg that she was turned on by the occult and sacrifice. Lizzie claimed that she and her ex had murdered a pregnant woman and her newborn on an alter, drank her blood, and then had group sex.

This crazy tale had been devised by detectives and the criminal profiler in the hope that Stagg would return the murderous confession with one of his own. Colin neither reacted to the tale nor made a confession of his own, but he did hand Lizzie a note outlining a sexual fantasy of his own that involved having sex with her at knifepoint on Wimbledon Common.

Police became even more convinced that they could win their confession and Lizzie went on more dates with Colin.

On their next date, Lizzie told Colin that she wanted to have sex with a murderer and that it turned her on that he was a suspect in Rachel’s murder. Lizzie went on to say that she would definitely have sex with him if he told her that he’d killed Rachel. Colin didn’t confess and when she applied pressure to elicit her confession he begged her not to ‘dump’ him.

The confession tapes of Colin Stagg were released years later and revealed the following conversation:

Lizzie: If only you had done the Wimbledon Common murder, if only you had killed her, it would be all right.

Colin: I’m terribly sorry, but I haven’t.

Operation Edzell failed to win a confession or find any evidence against Stagg.

Detectives remained adamant that Colin was Rachel’s killer, and explored no other possibilities. At one point there was even a police plot to kidnap Colin’s dog to bribe a confession from him.

A later confession from an officer read:

People were getting desperate. One idea was his dog. If we take it, he might confess. In the end nobody would do it.

Operation Edzell was becoming increasingly unethical and in the end, police arrested Colin and played their trump card; they presented Lizzie, in full police uniform and had her interview Colin for Rachel’s murder.

Lizzie presented every piece of evidence that she’d gathered during their most intimate conversations in a final bid to win a confession. Colin responded by saying that he’d never believed she’d killed anyone on an altar and was just going along with what he thought was a sex game between two consenting adults.

Giving up their hopes of confession, Detectives finally charged Colin and he spent 13 months in jail.

Colin Stagg was finally brought to trial but the Judge declared that the evidence had been obtained under Operation Edzell was by ‘deceptive conduct of the grossest kind’ and ruled it all inadmissible.

The Prosecution had no evidence at all.

The case was withdrawn and Colin was freed.

In the media, however, Detectives continued to blame Colin — even going on TV and insisting on his guilt. This continued for years as the case became colder and colder and Rachel and her family waited for justice.

Cold Case Review Finds New DNA Evidence

Ten years following Rachel’s murder, a small team of veteran detectives reviewed the case. They explored new avenues and revisited original witness statements. They also reexamined all physical evidence and had it reprocessed.

They found some fresh DNA evidence using a new technique.

Immediately, Colin Stagg was brought into the station and his DNA taken.

In 2002, using the new DNA technology, the police proved Colin Stagg innocent of the murder of Rachel Nickell.

Colin sued for damages, and received £700,000 — he is now a published author, having co-written two books about his experiences.

Colin Stagg is now married and lives comfortably with his wife and children.

A New Suspect

The new police team came to believe that Rachel’s murder was not a first or final offense for her killer and they looked at old and new cases matching the MO.

As technology advanced, the team was able to compare evidence more easily and to run the new DNA profile that had exonerated Colin through the UK’s National Crime Database.

Finally, in 2006, they got a match.

Robert Napper had been arrested 16 months after Rachel’s murder for the murder of Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine (4). Napper was incarcerated in a secure psychiatric institution and denied being on Wimbledon Common in 1992.

Certain that they had the right man this time, detectives charged Napper in November 2007 and he pleaded guilty at trial a year later.

Robert Napper will never be released in his lifetime.

16 years after her murder, Rachael and her family finally had justice.

Aftermath & Internal Affairs Investigation

Due to the horrendous media attention, Alex and his father Andre moved to France a couple of years following Rachel’s murder — they now live in Spain. Andre is a published author. Alex still remembers the murder vividly and talks to the public about his healing process in recent interviews.

Alex now, being interviewed on This Morning.

The police officer instructed to go undercover as ‘Lizzie’ also sued and received a payout for psychiatric damages she suffered — she’s now retired from the force.

The criminal profiler was struck off following charges for professional misconduct.

Over £3million was spent on the case by the police, mainly pursuing Colin Stagg. Despite the disgrace that was Operation Edzell, no police officers were charged with misconduct; most having retired and a senior office having already passed away.

The Internal Affairs investigation also found that police failings also meant that Robert Napper had not been apprehended for his multiple rapes in the years leading up to the murders. Despite multiple reports, including one from Napper’s own mother, police failed to investigate him.

Failure to investigate even one of Robert Napper’s many crimes left him free to murder Samantha, Rachel, and Jazmine.

Appendices

*This term is used very loosely to mean a woman with whom Colin spoke often for a period of time, in the hope of forming a romantic relationship.

**A lonely hearts column was a newspaper dating page — like Tinder but offline. These were very popular in 90s Britain.