The Witness Where Are Andre Alex Hanscombe Now Latest Update As Rachel Nickells Brutal Killing Explored On Netflix

When Rachel Nickell was murdered on Wimbledon Common in South West London in 1992, she left behind a two-year-old son and a devastated partner who spent the next three decades trying to rebuild their lives.

Police found little Alex beside his mother's body. Detective Sergeant Keith Penrose recalled the toddler was “caked in mud and blood,” while Andre says Alex had been “clinging to his mother's body,” per Cosmopolitan. Ahead of the documentary's release, Andre told The Times: “Rachel and I lived in overlapping circles with Alex at the centre. I felt privileged to be the provider, working as a courier, knowing our child was with Rachel 24/7. The love they had for each other was incredible.”

Their journey is now being told for the first time in full through Netflix's new drama series The Witness and its accompanying documentary The Murder of Rachel Nickell.

Colin Stagg was initially thought to be the perpetrator. However, after Stagg's prosecution collapsed, Andre feared that Rachel's killer was still free.

But the peace did not last. One day, while play-fighting with Alex using toy swords, Alex suddenly connected the game to his mother's death. “The bad man was sticking his things in her. A knife,” he said. “I saw it all. All of it.” Andre recalls: “It was hard to hear. This is your child, your baby."

Moving to France also forced Andre to confront his own unresolved pain. He told The Times: “It brought to the surface things I hadn't dealt with from my own childhood, abuse when I was five, my parents' separation."

Alex has built a life far removed from the tragedy that defined his childhood. Over the years he has worked as a mechanic, trained as a session musician, studied hypnotherapy and handwriting analysis and travelled extensively, including spending time in India practicing yoga. In 2015, he published his memoir Letting Go: A True Story of Murder, Loss and Survival, per Cosmopolitan.

Reflecting on his childhood, Alex told The Times: “My parents gave me so much love. One of my strongest memories is the smell of my mother's perfume and the feeling of being completely loved by her.” He also acknowledged the lasting impact on his relationship with his father. “My father sacrificed everything for me without any guarantees of how it would turn out. I am forever indebted to him for that."

Meanwhile, Andre eventually reached a point of forgiveness toward Robert Napper, who ultimately turned out to be the killer, after learning about his background and severe mental illness.

More than three decades later, Andre remains determined that the lessons of the case are not forgotten. “The attack Alex witnessed was preventable,” he says in the documentary. “Rachel's death was preventable. If the police had done their job properly, he'd have been taken off the street."

And after Robert Napper was arrested and sentenced in 2008, Andre and Alex Hanscombe remained based in Barcelona, Spain. They returned briefly to London in the summer of 2024 to work as consultants on the Netflix series, as per What's on Netflix.

Khushi Arora is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times, where she writes for the US Desk, covering everything happening in the United States, while maintaining quality and delivering impactful stories across all beats. She previously worked at Zee News for over a year where she explored multiple beats including News Desk, Education and Lifestyle. With a background in English Literature, Khushi blends sharp research with thoughtful storytelling, shaping stories that go beyond headlines and bring clarity and credibility to every piece she writes. Beyond the newsroom, she enjoys reading, watching cinema and loves having long conversations about books, films and everything in between.Read More