Netflix’s true crime drama The Witness is a three-part series examining the 1992 Wimbledon Common killing of Rachel Nickell.

The Witness: Jordan Bolger stars in Netflix trailer

The Witness has landed on Netflix, a true crime drama chronicling an investigation that stretched across 10 years.

In July 1992, Rachel Nickell was fatally stabbed on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alex as the sole witness.

Today, Thursday, June 4, Netflix has unveiled a three-part series examining the aftermath of Rachel’s death, including the effect on Alex and his father Andre, alongside the subsequent police inquiry.

As portrayed in the series, a man named Colin Stagg was initially detained and charged with Rachel’s murder after officers attempted to extract a confession using “honeytrapping” tactics.

However, following Stagg’s 13 months in custody awaiting trial, a judge threw out the case due to these methods employed.

Stagg received compensation and was exonerated of Rachel Nickell’s killing in 1994.

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Netflix The Witness ending explained: Who killed Rachel Nickell?(Image: NETFLIX)

Who killed Rachel Nickell?

The inquiry into Rachel Nickell’s death remained dormant for several years until 2002 when the case was reopened.

The Witness reveals that, owing to a breakthrough in DNA technology, officers were able to connect her death to convicted killer Robert Napper.

He was already held at high-security Broadmoor Hospital for the 1993 double killing of 27-year-old Samantha Bisset and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine at their Plumstead residence.

The Netflix drama depicts Napper in court entering a guilty plea to manslaughter in 2008 on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

One of the closing scenes features Andre and Alex in Spain after receiving a leaked document from within the Crown Prosecution Service.

Andre characterises it as a “detailed account of every chance they [the police] missed to stop the killer before he attacked you and your mother and up to 100 other women.

He said: “There’s so much more than the press has covered.”

The Witness on Netflix

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The Witness on Netflix stars Jordan Bolger and Kerry Godliman as Andre Hanscombe and June.(Image: NETFLIX)

“For example, in 1989, his own mother phoned the police and told them that he confessed to rape and it just wasn’t followed up.”

“And then a year after he killed your mother, the police caught him in the back garden of a young woman’s home and the only action they took was to give him a lift back to his flat and then three months later, he murdered Jazmine and Samantha Bisset in their own home.”

The Netflix series concludes with an explanatory note detailing what Andre and Alex pursued following receipt of the information.

It states: “Using the dossier leaked from within the Crown Prosecution Service, Andre and Alex brought legal proceedings against the Metropolitan Police Service.”

“Their action led to a damning report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.”

“It catalogued ‘…bad decisions and errors by the MPS. Without these errors, Robert Napper could have been apprehended prior to the murders of Rachel and the Bissets and before numerous violent sexual attacks on women.’”

“An MPS internal investigation found major failings but no officer faced formal disciplinary action.”

“The DNA enhancement technique developed for the re-investigation into the murder of Rachel Nickell was subsequently used to help solve multiple other cases.”

Concluding on an uplifting note, the drama reveals: “Andre and Alex live in Spain and remain united in their belief in the power of faith, hope and love. They are closer than ever.”

The Witness is available to stream on Netflix.