06/12/2026
Netflix: The Murder of Rachel Nickell (True Crime documentary)
Netflix: The Witness (movie based on the true events named in the documentary)
In 1992, Rachel Nickell was murdered in a public park in the UK. Stabbed over 50 times and SA’d in front of her little boy Alex. The suspect left the 2, almost 3 year old to fend for himself holding onto his mommy’s hand, putting tissues on her “Owies”.
Rachel’s husband Andre’ was left to raise his only son alone and pick up the pieces of a broken puzzle, already clouded with grief.
Though Alex was only 3 years old, Andre’ was pressured to sacrifice Alex to the interrogations and forced troubling psychological sessions by police.
They mentally took him back to the scene of the crime over and over and then took him to the actual physical scene in the woods. Police asked him to relive the last horrifying moments he had with his mommy, all at the behest of Andre’.
Few memories come back, until Alex and his father flee the country in order to escape the insanity around Rachel’s murder.
This documentary exposes the wicked ways of the London police, along with their entrapment of and the trials of the wrong man, accused of murdering Rachel. Eventually the case is closed, but not forgotten. It takes years before resolution, not closure, would be had.
The relationship between Andre and an adult Alex is strained for life. Interviews with father and his now adukt son expose the raw, heartbreaking truth behind the emotional trauma loved ones of murdered mothers endure. Especially when the police investigation is botched.
After watching this true crime doc, check out the movie “The witness” created by Netflix and based on the true story of Rachel Nickell and the turmoil that turned her husband and child’s life upside down forever.
The drama is based on the memoir and experiences of Alex and his father, André Hanscombe.