MPS apology for ‘errors’ in Rachel Nickell murder case

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has apologised to the partner of Rachel Nickell after an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation discovered a “catalogue of bad decisions” that led to her murder by Robert Napper in 1992.

Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said she would write to Ms Nickell’s partner, André Hanscombe, who complained to the IPCC about the MPS’ investigation into her death in 2009.

An independent investigation into the complaint concluded that there was “a catalogue of bad decisions and errors” made by the force, which included:

•Failing to sufficiently investigate after Napper’s mother called police to report that he had confessed that he had raped a woman on Plumstead Common in 1989.
•Eliminating Napper from inquiries into an earlier series of rapes because he was over 6ft tall and therefore outside the parameters set for the investigation.

Napper was responsible for the rape and murder of Ms Nickell and one other young woman, Samantha Bisset, and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine.

IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: “It is clear that a catalogue of bad decisions and errors made by the MPS led to missed opportunities to take Robert Napper off the streets before he killed Rachel Nickell and the Bissets, and before numerous women suffered violent sexual attacks at his hands.

“Thankfully, the MPS of 20 years ago is not the MPS of today. I have been heartened to see the dedication and determination shown by those officers currently working to establish whether Napper is responsible for any other crimes. I know that the overwhelming sense that our investigators got from speaking to MPS officers during this assessment was that they are as angry as we are at the mistakes that were made in the past. Policy, practice and technical ability have all improved vastly since Rachel Nickell’s death and I certainly do believe that things have changed beyond recognition.

“The MPS publicly apologised to Colin Stagg when Robert Napper was convicted in 1995. However, nobody has ever stood up in public and offered an apology to the other people whose lives were so terribly affected by this case. For that reason, I believe the MPS should publicly issue an unreserved apology to André Hanscombe and his son for the numerous mistakes made during the investigations into Rachel Nickell’s death and the police contact with Robert Napper.”

A private apology was made to Mr Hanscombe in 2008 by Assistant Commissioner John Yates and the MPS said it “has no hesitation in repeating that apology”.

In a statement the MPS accepted that “more could, and should, have been done, and had more been done we could have been in a better position to have prevented very serious attacks by Napper”.

No police officer will face disciplinary action because they have all retired and one key senior detective has died.