Rachel Nickell's boyfriend shares harrowing secret she took to grave 34 years later
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape, abortion and murder which some readers may find distressing.
After a Netflix documentary shone a light on the horrific killing of Rachel Nickell, her former boyfriend has revealed a secret that the young mother sadly took to her grave.
The 23-year-old was killed in shocking circumstances, as she was stabbed 49 times while taking her toddler son Alex for a walk in the Wimbledon Common area of London back in 1992.
More than 30 years on from her death, her old boyfriend Andre Hanscombe has spoken to the press for the first time to share a detail which makes the crime committed by Robert Napper perhaps even more horrifying.
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Although the couple were struggling to make ends meet and were forced into a heartbreaking abortion, Andre has now suggested that he suspected Rachel may well have been pregnant again on the day of her death.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Alex and Andre reflected on Rachel's death and how their life has progressed in the 34 years since they lost her.
Alex first spoke about the abortion that Rachel went through around eight months before she was killed.
He said: "For all the responsible reasons my parents decided to have an abortion. It was something my mother never fully recovered from emotionally. And something my father has regretted his whole life."
Andre added: "We were exhausted. But looking back, it was the wrong decision, and the consequences can never be undone.
"You don’t have objectivity in moments like that – but now I know we could have got through it. I hope that message makes a difference to someone today."
Although he made it clear that he will never know for sure, Andre suggests that he believed Rachel to be in the early stages of pregnancy when she was killed by Napper.
"It was very early on and I’ll never truly know. But I know she never would have wanted us to make the same mistake again," he said.
Frustratingly for the family, it wasn't until 2008 that Napper was convicted and sentenced, with Colin Stagg wrongfully imprisoned. Napper eventually pleaded guilty to her manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to the severe paranoid schizophrenia and Asperger's syndrome he suffers from.
However, he has committed two other murders, two rapes and two attempted rapes, meaning he will spend the rest of his days in detention at Broadmoor Hospital.
The Murder of Rachel Nickell is available to watch on Netflix now.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
For help, support and advice about abortion, contact the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on 03457 30 40 30, 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm on Saturdays, and 9.30am to 2.30pm on Sundays.
Topics: True Crime, Netflix
James Moorhouse