A man was charged yesterday with the murder of Rachel Nickell who was stabbed in a frenzied attack on Wimbledon Common 15 years ago.

Robert Napper, 41, a warehouseman, is expected to appear in court by videolink next week. But Mr Napper, who is being held in a mental health hospital, might never stand trial if he is judged to be too unwell to understand the legal process.

Miss Nickell, 23, a part-time model, was walking on the common in southwest London with her two-year-old son when she was attacked in July 1992. She was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times. Her son was standing by her body, crying “Wake up, Mummy” when she was found.

The boy, now aged 17, lives in France with his father, Andre Hanscombe, who was Miss Nickell’s fiancé.

Timeline: police blunders in Nickell case

Robert Napper was questioned over similar attacks in same area as Nickell murder, but it took 12 years for police to snare him

• Inside the mind of Robert Napper

• Where are they now? Key figures in Rachel Nickell case

• Schizophrenic Robert Napper admits killing Rachel Nickell

BACKGROUND

• Where are they now? Key figures in Nickell case

• Schizophrenic admits killing Rachel Nickell

• Profiles: Robert Napper's victims

BACKGROUND

• Man charged with Rachel Nickell murder

• Met to charge Robert Napper for Rachel Nickell murder

• Sex killer linked to Nickell murder

• Colin Stagg awarded £706,000 compensation

• Should Britain have a compulsory DNA database?

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• Rachel Nickell killing

Related Links

• Met to charge Robert Napper for Rachel Nickell murder

• DNA review of murder and rape cases ordered

• Nickell murder DNA ‘blunder’

The decision to charge Mr Napper is final vindication for Colin Stagg, who was the focus of a lengthy police investigation and spent a year in custody before a trial at the Old Bailey in 1994. He was acquitted when a judge threw out the case and criticised the police for running a “honey trap” operation. A female undercover officer had befriended Mr Stagg and encouraged him to talk about the killing and discuss violent sexual fantasies.

Mr Justice Ognall said the use of the tactic was “not merely an excess of zeal, but a blatant attempt to incriminate a suspect by positive and deceptive conduct of the grossest kind”.

Mr Stagg said that being charged with the murder had destroyed his life and, despite his acquittal, many people still believed that he was guilty.

He said: “I became a national hate figure. I had to endure every form of vilification. I was insulted, attacked, spat upon. My home was attacked and so was I. My name alone was enough to stop me getting work.”

Mr Stagg told ITV News yesterday: “There’s going to be a certain percentage of people who will always believe I’m guilty, no matter what.”

This year the Home Office announced that Mr Stagg was entitled to compensation. The amount will be decided by an independent review.

Mr Napper emerged as the prime suspect after police began a review of the case in 2002. The review team passed items of Miss Nickell’s clothing to forensic scientists, who identified microscopic DNA traces thought to belong to her killer. The traces had been missed during the original investigation. New techniques allowed the reviewing scientists to “grow” the material for more accurate analysis.

The Metropolitan Police sent a file on Mr Napper to the Crown Prosecution Service at the beginning of this year but the decision to charge him was delayed while lawyers tested the scientific evidence. Police and prosecutors were concerned to test the material fully because of the controversies about the forensic science evidence presented in the Damilola Taylor and Jill Dando murder trials.

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