Rachel Nickell

LOVE MURDER

Rachel Nickell and the Wimbledon Common Honey Trap

Released: 8 Jul 2026 Duration: 01:24:16

On July 15, 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was murdered on Wimbledon Common in broad daylight, with her two-year-old son as the only witness. With no DNA at the scene, police fixated on the wrong man, building an infamous honey trap operation around a profiler's hunch while the real killer stayed … more

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Case Details

Crime: Murder (Single incident)
Location: London (Wimbledon Common), United Kingdom
Date: 1992-07-15
Victim(s): Rachel Nickell
Perpetrator(s): Robert Napper (convicted December 2008, manslaughter by diminished responsibility)
Motive: Sexual sadism
Verdict: Napper: guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility. Colin Stagg (wrongly accused) acquitted after entrapment case thrown out 1994.
Sentence: Napper: indefinite hospital order (Broadmoor)
Evidence: DNA (matched Napper to Rachel and to separate Plumstead attack on mother and child), shoe print, Napper's psychiatric history
Episodes: 1
Podcasts: 1

Rachel Nickell, 23, was stabbed 49 times in front of her two-year-old son on Wimbledon Common, London on 15 July 1992. Police targeted Colin Stagg using a controversial 'honeytrap' operation based on criminal profiling. The case was thrown out as entrapment in 1994. In 2004, DNA linked the murder to Robert Napper, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic already in Broadmoor for a separate attack on a mother and daughter. Stagg received £706,000 compensation for his wrongful ordeal.

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Rachel Nickell and the Wimbledon Common Honey Trap