Alex Hanscombe finally reveals why he and his dad kept moving after Rachel Nickell’s murder

In the Netflix documentary, The Murder of Rachel Nickell, we find out that André Hanscombe and his son, Alex, had to move a lot from the UK to France and later to Spain, and now they have revealed the heartbreaking reason behind it.

Alex was just two years old when he witnessed his mum being murdered on Wimbledon Common in 1992. In the years that followed, he and his dad, André, moved around a lot, living in different countries and keeping a low profile.

Now, Alex has finally explained why they spent so much of his childhood moving from place to place.

Alex says the media kept finding them

Speaking to The Times, Alex explained that they never actually wanted to be in the spotlight after Rachel’s murder. However, whenever there was a new development in the case, journalists would track them down.

“We never wanted to be the centre of attention. But if there was any development in the case, the press would find us and we’d be cast into the spotlight,” he said.

Because of that, they repeatedly felt forced to move on. “We were tracked down to France and forced to move. We were tracked down again in Spain. It felt like another violation.”

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Alex added, “My father always knew it was a possibility and we kept a metaphorical go-bag by the door.”

They first left the UK just months after Rachel’s murder

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André explained that life became incredibly difficult after Rachel’s death, with media attention following them wherever they went. Just seven months after she was killed, he decided they needed a fresh start away from the public eye. He said, “Seven months after Rachel was killed we fled in the night to France and, once it was just the two of us, our journey started, the good and the bad.”

For André, moving away wasn’t just about escaping the attention. It was also about creating a life that Rachel would have wanted for their son. He said, “Alex and I built an environment Rachel would have loved, nature, big skies, sunsets, chickens roaming, and we had some golden years.”

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