André Hanscombe, the partner of Rachel Nickell, who was brutally murdered on Wimbledon Common in 1992, has revealed in a new interview that she may have been pregnant at the time of her death. The 23-year-old mother was stabbed 49 times while walking with her toddler son Alex.
Hanscombe, now 63, told the Daily Mail that the couple had previously opted for an abortion due to financial pressures, a decision he regrets. He believes Nickell may have been pregnant again when she was killed, though she never confirmed it. 'More than once I asked her if anything had happened to her. She always said no. But I will never be sure,' he said.
On the morning of the attack, Hanscombe left for work as a motorbike courier. When he called home, a policeman answered, informing him of an 'accident'. Hanscombe correctly interpreted the officer's refusal to confirm whether Nickell was alive as confirmation of her death. Alex, now 36, was found clinging to his mother's body, covered in blood.
The case is the subject of a new Netflix documentary, 'The Murder of Rachel Nickell', and a drama series, 'The Witness'. After the murder, Hanscombe and Alex moved to France, then India, and later Spain to escape media attention. Robert Napper was eventually convicted of Nickell's murder in 2008 and is detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
