The murder of Rachel Nickell

It was an ordinary morning, a mother and her infant son were walking the dog on Wimbledon common, as they did every morning. But it was this morning, the 15th of July 1992, that twenty three year old Rachel Nickell was brutally attacked. Her throat was cut and she was stabbed up to 49 times and sexually assaulted. All of this taking place in front of her 2 year old child Alexander who was found by a passer by, after the attack, clinging to his mother saying the words “Wake up, Mummy”.

The MET police oversaw the investigation and quickly identified Colin Stagg, unemployed and a frequent visitor to the common to walk his dog. Investigators launched operation ‘Ezdell’, in which an undercover policewoman attempted to get information from Stagg by appearing to develop a romantic interest in him. This involved regularly meeting up, phone conversations and exchanging letters containing sexual fantasies.