In July 1992 Rachel Nickell was a successful part-time model who was living an idyllic life with her 2-year-old son and long-term partner.

She had graced the covers of several magazines but had cut back on her modelling work to spend more time with Alex and boyfriend Andre Hanscombe.

They lived in Tooting, West London and her days were made up of playing with her son, taking morning walks with him and their mongrel dog Molly on Wimbledon Common and visiting her local leisure centre, where she swam two or three times a week and took part in the mother and baby swimming group.

On the day of her death she had gone to Wimbledon Common only because she thought it was safer than parks near her home where she would be regularly hassled by men.

The blonde-haired 23-year-old would also regularly play tennis with Mr Hanscombe, a semi-professional player.

At night the couple would often go to an Italian restaurant near to their home. The manager described them as being “close and in love”. “They used to kiss and hold hands, they were always looking into each others eyes.”

Brought up in the Essex village of Great Totham, near Colchester, she was a polite child who was a good student and keen sporstwoman.

After receiving private tuition she gained a place at coveted Colchester County High, Essex, a grammar school where she is remembered as as vivacious pupil who excelled at sports and passed nine O-levels.

She attended Essex Dance Theatre, where she was thought to have had enough talent to appear in the West End, and swam for a championship winning team.

She also developed an interest in community care, organising Christmas parties for the elderly and working with disabled children.

After obtaining A-levels in English, law and history at the Colchester Institute she intended to go to university to get a degree in English and history but abandoned her studies at Thames Polytechnic in Woolwich after meeting Mr Hanscombe, a motorcylce courier and having Alex in 1989.

Described by friends as loving, unaffected, friendly and always pleasant with natural poise and charm, she harboured ambitions to work in children’s television.

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