Met rules out compensation for Rachel Nickell family

The family of Rachel Nickell will not receive any compensation from the police despite the failings which occurred. It has emerged that the police could have prevented the death of Rachel. The Metropolitan Police have stated that they have given careful and detailed consideration but have reached the decision no payment will be made to her son Alex Hanscombe, 21, and his father Andre. Alex was aged just two when he witnessed Robert Napper stab his mother 49 times on Wimbledon Common, south-west London. Mistakes have been publicly acknowledged by the MET from the 1992 murder case. A report which was released by the Independent Police Complaints Commission in June established that the Met had made bad errors and missed opportunities to catch Miss Nickells killer before her death. In the 1980s it had been established that the killed Robert Napper was a threat to women. In 1989 his mother contacted the police to inform them that her son had confessed to a sex attack. Although the police count not trace the crime and did not interview him or collect any DNA. It has since been proved that Napper carried out at least four other rapes before he killed Miss Nickell in a horrific sex attack in July 1992. Another gentleman, Colin Stagg was arrested and later cleared of the murder in 1994; he spent 13 months on remand. In 2008 he was rewarded 706,000 in compensation by the Home Office.