Rachel Nickell’s son:
“I know Mum is still looking out for me”
Hachel Nickell was R just 23 years old when she was sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed 49 times in 1992, while taking her two-year-old son, Alex, for a walk on Wimbledon Common.
Horrifically, Alex witnessed the frenzied attack and was found clinging to her bloodied body, crying: “Wake up, Mummy.”
Alex, now 27, lives in Barcelona with his father, Andre Hanscombe, 54. He’s written a book about his mum and incredibly reveals he’s forgiven her murderer – schizophrenic Robert Napper.
FINDING FORGIVENESS
Napper – who also murdered a mother and her four-yearold daughter 16 months after killing Rachel – was eventually convicted of her manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in December 2008.
In an interview, Alex explained: “Accepting all that life has handed me and then forgiving the person responsible has allowed me to let go.”
His forgiveness is all the more remarkable considering how vividly he can remember the attack. In his book, Alex reveals: “A man with a black bag over his shoulder came lurching out of the undergrowth…i was grabbed and thrown to the ground. Seconds later my mother collapsed next to me.
“She looked peaceful as if pretending to be asleep… ready to wake up at any moment and gaze adoringly into my eyes… I knew she was never coming back.”
A NEW START
Understandably, Alex struggled to come to terms with the tragedy and has revealed that he used drugs in his early teens and had several run-ins with the police, but says that’s all in the past now.
He says: “I promised myself I would strive to leave all that negativity behind and make a new start.”
Alex reveals he now leads a contented life. He’s had loving relationships, travelled widely, practises yoga and speaks four languages. He and his father are also working on a series of children’s books.
Poignantly, Alex feels his mother, a former model, is still with them. He says: “I remember her smile, her smell, the sound of her voice… I know she is looking out for me.”