Rachel Nickell was walking with her two-year-old son and and their dog on Wimbledon Common when she was savagely assaulted and murdered. A young undercover policewoman befriended the man that police wrongly-suspected of being the murderer, and this is the story of this dramatic investigation.

This is Alex Hanscombe's powerful, inspirational account as seen on This morning, BBC Breakfast, BBC Newsnight and published in The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and The Sun. 'I was the most famous child in the British Isles...' A coming-of-age story that begins with tragedy but ends in understanding, forgiveness and peace. The stunning and heartbreaking story of the young son of Rachel Nickell - who witnessed the brutal attack on his mother and whose childhood was shaped by the media storm that followed. A coming-of-age story that begins with a tragedy but ends in optimism, forgiveness and peace. On a beautiful July morning in 1992, just three weeks before his third birthday, Alex Hanscombe and his young mother, Rachel Nickell, went walking on Wimbledon Common. Life was never the same again. Shortly after ten o'clock that morning, Alex was discovered by the side of his mother's body - she had been assaulted, stabbed forty-nine times in a frenzied attack, and left dead. Alex was the only witness to the attack. Letting Go is Alex's heartbreaking account of that morning, the aftermath, and the devastating effect on his father, the extended family and the wider community. Alex tells the story of the resulting media storm, the legal cases following and the peace and understanding that he has now found, as a young man. In telling his story, and the truth, this is the last stage of Alex's incredible journey to letting go.

Records the tragic circumstances which led to one man committing a sequence of vicious sexual assaults through to the murders of Rachel Nickell and Samantha and Jazmine Bisset. It has taken Alan Jackaman over 25 years to come to terms with what he experienced, but he now tells of his part in the downfall of serial killer Robert Napper. Reveals for the first time information not until now in the public domain and tells of the author’s tenacity as a lower-ranking officer in the face of dwindling resources and sometimes disparagement by more senior investigators. A straightforward account of the solving of heinous and complex crimes, it also delves into media fascination with serious offences and shows how the press may latch on to one murder whilst ignoring another, even more horrific, one. The author was an investigator on the Bisset case from day one through to seeing that case linked to London’s Green Chain Walk rapes and the discovery that Napper also killed Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common. The book tells for the first time the behind the scenes story of how the misguided targeting of Colin Stagg and rebuffing of the Bisset team’s suspicions allowed Napper to escape justice for 15 years. The book also looks at the mind of Robert Napper, his bizarre behaviour, family history and ‘doodlings’ (some reproduced in this book) and the fact that sheer ‘chance’ allowed him to remain free for so long. By the detective who arrested Napper. Looks at the emergence of criminal profiling. Enters the mind of a psychotic killer. Shows how media ‘obsession’ can hinder justice. Contains previously unpublished material. Extract: ‘To be able to properly investigate the murders of Samantha and Jazmine it was necessary to research the sequence of Green Chain Walk rapes. At first glance the string of offences bore the classic hallmarks of a psychopath who grew ever more cunning, yet reckless, but more importantly ever more violent. Studies of this type of offender clearly show they learn as they progress in their offending…’

This is the book that the Metropolitan Police tried to ban. It containshocking letters between police and the chief suspect of this terrible crime,hat will make you wonder if justice was really done...No one could havemagined that when beautiful young Rachel Nickell went for a walk onimbledon Common with her little son, it would have resulted in a wicked,ickening crime that appalled a nation; or that the police investigation thatollowed would cost over a million pounds. This is the inside story of thatperation by the police detective that headed it up. It reveals informationhat has hitherto been withheld, and spectacularly prints letters from theolice involved in the operation to the chief suspect that will astonish theeader and bring the details of this terrible case right back into the publicye...

Colin Stagg spent thirteen months in jail awaiting trial for the murder of Rachel Nickell - a crime he did not commit. The case against him was weak from the outset, but was a classic example of the way in which facts can be mis-represented in the hands of professionals, be they lawyers, psychologists or police officers. When the case agianst Stagg collapsed, his life was made a living hell by the tabloid press, portaying him as a man who had got away with murder. Police leaks, and a book by a psychologist who had assisted them, led to the ongoing perception that Stagg was a murderer. This nightmare carried on for fourteen years until a "cold case review" identified faults in the original investigation. This culminated in the identification of the real culprit - a man who had indeed slipped through the net and gone on to kill again...

In 1992, Rachel Nickell was stabbed and sexually assaulted on Wimbledon Common. In 1994 Colin Stagg was cleared of the killing. In this book, he examines the tragedy of Rachel's murder from his own perspective and the flawed police investigation that failed them both.