RACHEL BOYFRIEND TO TAKE PAYOUT FIGHT TO EURO COURT
Rachel Nickell was hacked to death in 1992.
Wednesday November 17,2010
By John Twomey
THE boyfriend of murdered Rachel Nickell will take his fight for compensation against Scotland Yard to the European courts.
Police have admitted errors were made in the hunt for the attacker who hacked Rachel, 23, to death on Wimbledon Common, south London, in July, 1992. Her son Alex, then two, was found clinging to her body.
But the Yard has turned down a claim for a six-figure pay-out from Alex’s dad Andre Hanscombe, who yesterday insisted: “I am going to the European Court of Human Rights.”
Senior officers have apologised for failing to catch Robert Napper, 42, as he carried out a series of rapes before killing Rachel.
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But Yard lawyers insist the Metropolitan Police is under no legal obligation to compensate nor pay the legal bill of Mr Hanscombe. Napper, in Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital, went on to kill Samantha Bisset, 27, and her daughter Jazmine, four, in Plumstead, south London, in November, 1993.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said Napper, convicted of Rachel’s murder in 2007, could have been taken off the streets after an earlier spate of rapes.
Mr Hanscombe, 47, told BBC Radio 4: “There has been absolutely no holding to account of anybody responsible for mistakes.”
Colin Stagg, wrongly accused of Rachel’s death, got £706,000 compensation.
But the Yard has turned down a claim for a six-figure pay-out from Alex’s dad Andre Hanscombe, who yesterday insisted: “I am going to the European Court of Human Rights.”
Senior officers have apologised for failing to catch Robert Napper, 42, as he carried out a series of rapes before killing Rachel.
FOLLOW THE EXPRESS ON TWITTER!
But Yard lawyers insist the Metropolitan Police is under no legal obligation to compensate nor pay the legal bill of Mr Hanscombe. Napper, in Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital, went on to kill Samantha Bisset, 27, and her daughter Jazmine, four, in Plumstead, south London, in November, 1993.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said Napper, convicted of Rachel’s murder in 2007, could have been taken off the streets after an earlier spate of rapes.
Mr Hanscombe, 47, told BBC Radio 4: “There has been absolutely no holding to account of anybody responsible for mistakes.”
Colin Stagg, wrongly accused of Rachel’s death, got £706,000 compensation.
