The Wimbledon Common Murder: The shocking story of how an innocent man nearly got sent down for life

Did you see the video of the victim, Rachel? It was quite poignant. Did you know Rachel at all? Had you seen her before? Well, I saw somebody that looked like her about two years ago. I mean, I suppose it could. Possibility that Colin was simply mistaken or for that matter that Jane Harriman was. But Pedder was closed to the latter and all but closed to the former. As far as he was concerned, Colin was lying, full stop. While firmly of the opinion that Colin was lying, he was open, or so he claims, to the possibility that this might be for some reason other than being guilty of the Rachel murder.

1. Rogers Burnham: The Original Man Behind Bill W.?
2. The Wimbledon Common Murder;
3. The Wimbledon Common Murder by David Kessler.
4. La Cathédrale (French Edition)?
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6. Murder of Rachel Nickell - Wikipedia;

Am the one to do it. Firstly, I hope you enjoyed my last letter to you, Is that the kind of thing you wanted? Nothing like this has happened to me before. When "Lizzie" went on to say: One idea was his dog. If we take it, he might confess. In the end nobody would do it. Stagg spent 13 months in jail after being charged over the horrific stabbing of the young mother. The police came in for heavy criticism at the trial and Mr Justice Ognall ruled they had shown "excessive zeal" and had tried to incriminate a suspect by "deceptive conduct of the grossest kind".

He excluded the entrapment evidence and the prosecution withdrew its case. Stagg was formally acquitted in September In fact the guilty man was paranoid schizophrenic Napper who should already have been behind bars for violent rapes and assaults - crimes in total.

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Abused and bullied as a child, Napper had descended into a fantasy world of stalking women in parks and fields. The sex predator confessed to his mum in that he raped a woman but detectives failed to follow up the case, despite having his DNA on file. After missing the first opportunity to nab Napper, police were presented with another chance in August when he was named by a neighbour as the so-called Chain Green rapist.

A month later the six-footer was again named but eliminated for being too tall at 6ft 2in. The victim said he was 6ft 3in.

In April Napper's prints were found on a gun and a raid on his house uncovered a crossbow, knives and hand-made maps of the area, but he was not probed. Three months later he was arrested after being spotted peering through a young woman's window. Police let him go when he said he was out for a walk. The mistake had tragic consequences in November when Napper forced his way into Samantha Bisset's home in Plumstead.

He stabbed the year-old nearly 70 times before raping and suffocating her four-year-old daughter Jazmine.

Murder of Rachel Nickell

The Nickell team had dismissed any connection to the Wimbledon Common murder insisting they had their man. Napper was arrested and linked to the Bisset killings by fingerprints and in October admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. During his reign of terror, one of the rapes he is suspected of bore a chilling resemblance to Rachel's sex attack.

In May , Napper had tied a ligature around the neck of a woman, 22, as she pushed her two-year-old daughter in a buggy near Mottingham. He beat her head and body, stripped and raped her as she begged for her life. The case against him was weak from the outset, but was a classic example of the way in which facts can be misrepresented in the hands of professionals, be they lawyers, psychologists or police officers. When the case against Stagg collapsed, his life was made a living hell by the tabloid press, portraying him as a man who had got away with murder.

Police leaks, and a book by a psychologist who had assisted them, led to the ongoing perception that Stagg was a murderer. This culminated in the identification of the real culprit — a man who had indeed slipped through the net and gone on to kill again… Oct 25, David rated it it was amazing. My old flatmate never lets me down. This one is non-fiction - an update of the Rachel Nickell case that he wrote about before, with Colin Stagg.

This one is even better than the first because it's more concise. The pacing is good and the revelations even more shocking with the additional information that was not available to the press or public at My old flatmate never lets me down.

The pacing is good and the revelations even more shocking with the additional information that was not available to the press or public at the time but WAS known to the police. There have been several self-serving books by people involved in this case, but anyone wanting to know what really happen should read this book. Basically it is a book critising all those involved with the investigation. The author does admit he is a friend of Colin Stagg and it seems he is trying to ruin the reputation of those who ruined his friends reputation. Dec 18, Hannah rated it it was ok.

I did not really enjoy this book. The author's use of english was predictable and his tone at times was patronising.

Audiobooks written by David Kessler | www.newyorkethnicfood.com

I understand the book was written from Colin Stagg's point of view and that the accused was placed under a huge amount of pressure during the investigation and trial. However, the author has glossed over many of the salient points as to why the police were first interested in Colin Stagg - the most important being that he had been convicted of indecent exposure on Wimbledon Common I did not really enjoy this book. However, the author has glossed over many of the salient points as to why the police were first interested in Colin Stagg - the most important being that he had been convicted of indecent exposure on Wimbledon Common.

A huge portion of blame has also been attributed to Paul Britton and the author makes many snide remarks about the psychologist during the course of the book. Anyone who has read the Jigsaw Man will know that Paul Britton works with the police for free and only gives his opinion based on his experiences. It was, in fact, the CPS who made the decision to continue the investigation into Colin Stagg, and Paul Britton was asked only to advise on how the undercover investigation should proceed.

Basically, the police thought they had their man and were desperate for Colin Stagg to incriminate himself. This is not the fault of Paul Britton, who did not lead the investigation or make any procedural decisions. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it is very easy to criticise the police after the event.

At the time, the Met had a public duty to fully investigate Colin Stagg as he had a background as a sexual deviant flashing on Wimbledon Common and visited the area at least once a day.

In summary, I did not like the style of the book and I felt it lacked insight and balance. View all 4 comments. May 05, Lynda Kelly rated it liked it Shelves: This was very good indeed. It was all about the miscarriage of justice regarding the girl called Rachel Nickell murdered on Wimbledon Common in front of her 3 year old son back in The guy accused of it was a chap called Colin Stagg and it turned out many years later that he hadn't been the perpetrator at all!!

I'd always been convinced myself he was guilty, I must say.