The Wimbledon Common Murder: The shocking story of how an innocent man nearly got sent down for life

Murder of Rachel Nickell

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So, you watched Crimewatch last night? Did you see the video of the victim, Rachel? It was quite poignant. Did you know Rachel at all? Had you seen her before? Well, I saw somebody that looked like her about two years ago. I mean, I suppose it could.

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Possibility that Colin was simply mistaken or for that matter that Jane Harriman was. But Pedder was closed to the latter and all but closed to the former. As far as he was concerned, Colin was lying, full stop.

While firmly of the opinion that Colin was lying, he was open, or so he claims, to the possibility that this might be for some reason other than being guilty of the Rachel murder. Am the one to do it. Firstly, I hope you enjoyed my last letter to you, Is that the kind of thing you wanted?

Knowing me, I probably got it all wrong. Please forgive me if. Who lived at Plumstead High Street where he occupied a small flat in a converted Victorian House. This led to the discovery of an even more remarkable coincidence: Robert Napper and Samantha Bissett had been born on the same day — not just the same date in the calendar, but the same year.

Napper worked at Glyndon Plastics, a nearby factory and indeed had worked fairly steadily since leaving the local Abbey Wood Comprehensive with seven O levels and a City and Guilds diploma in catering. During one meeting in Hyde Park, they spoke about the Nickell murder, but Stagg later said that he had only played along with the topic because he wanted to pursue the romance.

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Police later released a taped conversation between "Lizzie" and Stagg in which "Lizzie" claimed to enjoy hurting people, to which Stagg mumbled: If I have disappointed you, please don't dump me. Nothing like this has happened to me before. When "Lizzie" went on to say: One idea was his dog. If we take it, he might confess. In the end nobody would do it. Stagg spent 13 months in jail after being charged over the horrific stabbing of the young mother.

The Wimbledon Common Murder

The police came in for heavy criticism at the trial and Mr Justice Ognall ruled they had shown "excessive zeal" and had tried to incriminate a suspect by "deceptive conduct of the grossest kind". He excluded the entrapment evidence and the prosecution withdrew its case. Stagg was formally acquitted in September In fact the guilty man was paranoid schizophrenic Napper who should already have been behind bars for violent rapes and assaults - crimes in total. Abused and bullied as a child, Napper had descended into a fantasy world of stalking women in parks and fields.

The sex predator confessed to his mum in that he raped a woman but detectives failed to follow up the case, despite having his DNA on file. After missing the first opportunity to nab Napper, police were presented with another chance in August when he was named by a neighbour as the so-called Chain Green rapist.

A month later the six-footer was again named but eliminated for being too tall at 6ft 2in. The victim said he was 6ft 3in.

In April Napper's prints were found on a gun and a raid on his house uncovered a crossbow, knives and hand-made maps of the area, but he was not probed. Three months later he was arrested after being spotted peering through a young woman's window. Police let him go when he said he was out for a walk. The mistake had tragic consequences in November when Napper forced his way into Samantha Bisset's home in Plumstead.

He stabbed the year-old nearly 70 times before raping and suffocating her four-year-old daughter Jazmine. The Nickell team had dismissed any connection to the Wimbledon Common murder insisting they had their man. Napper was arrested and linked to the Bisset killings by fingerprints and in October admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. During his reign of terror, one of the rapes he is suspected of bore a chilling resemblance to Rachel's sex attack.

In May , Napper had tied a ligature around the neck of a woman, 22, as she pushed her two-year-old daughter in a buggy near Mottingham. He beat her head and body, stripped and raped her as she begged for her life.

Nine years later, advances in DNA technology linked him to Rachel's murder and a fresh investigation was launched. He originally denied any involvement in the death but eventually confessed when faced with the scientific evidence. Police found flakes of red paint in little Alex's hair, which matched paint on a toolbox at his house. Psychiatrist Dr Natalie Pyszora said Napper confessed to seeking out a woman for sex at knifepoint and told the court of his bizarre delusions. These included his belief he had won a Nobel peace prize, been awarded war medals, was a millionaire, and that a terrorist bomb had blown off his fingers, but they had grown back.

Dr Pyszora recommended he be ordered to stay in hospital "for the protection of others".

In he apologised to Stagg for continuing to believe he was the killer despite his acquittal. In a letter, he told him: I know now that you were, and are, an innocent man who was mistakenly charged. I wish you a long, happy and productive life.

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