Why Rachel Nickell’s son Alex Hanscombe is speaking out now, 34 years after witnessing her murder

For most of his life, Alex Hanscombe has lived with a tragedy that shocked the nation. He was just two years old when his mum, Rachel Nickell, was murdered on Wimbledon Common in July 1992. Alex Hanscombe witnessed the attack and later became a central figure in one of Britain’s most infamous criminal investigations, and he has finally spoken out publicly after 34 years.

So why is he speaking publicly now?

Alex via Netflix

The answer seems to lie in what Alex and his father, Andre Hanscombe, hope people will take away from Netflix’s new drama The Witness.

Speaking on This Morning, Andre revealed that they had actually been approached about telling their story around 13 years ago. However, he had concerns about revisiting such a painful period of their lives.

“Our main concern was not to make the same mistakes again,” Andre explained.

“With the best intention in the world, many times there are things we’ve touched upon, it’s easy to be put in a box.

“It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects of such a dark story, and it was really important for us to use this opportunity to show that this is a journey from darkness to light.”

For Andre, that was a major reason for finally agreeing to tell their story now. He said, “Alex was nearly three. Which means he was very, very conscious of what happened. And it had a massive effect on his life, but we want people to know there’s a way to get through this. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Rather than focusing only on Rachel’s murder, Andre and Alex want people to see what happened afterwards and how they coped with the years that followed.

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Andre also said, “We want to use our story to do good rather than push a negative message. It’s something that would have been important to Rachel, if we can just touch one person, it will be worthwhile.”

‘We all feel the same pain’

Andre via Netflix

Meanwhile, Alex explained that sharing their experience is about helping others connect with the human side of tragedy.

“It’s important to us, when something big like this happens, sometimes it’s hard to relate to them and we feel that everyone suffering, life can bring all of us to our knees, and everyone has a heart and the suffering of every human being is important, we all feel the same pain,” Alex said.

The Netflix drama also explores the challenges Alex faced growing up after witnessing the attack. Andre admitted there were some difficult periods, particularly during Alex’s teenage years.

“We didn’t want to put any make-up on the difficulties we had just to prove that it can get very dark for everyone but there is a way through,” he said.

Alex also revealed that he still remembers parts of what happened, despite being so young at the time. While discussing the lasting impact of the tragedy, he said he is sometimes surprised by what he can remember. But he feels “blessed” to be able to use his experiences to help others.

So, 34 years on from the murder that changed his life forever, Alex and his father say they are finally ready to tell a story that goes beyond the crime itself. As Andre puts it, “a journey from darkness to light.”

The Witness is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.