PLUMSTEAD: IPCC probe police over Rachel Nickell killing (From News Shopper)

PLUMSTEAD: IPCC probe police over Rachel Nickell killing

10:07am Friday 20th November 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(2)

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into the actions of police in the run-up to the killing of Rachel Nickell.

Robert Napper, aged 43, who used to live in Plumstead High Street, killed Miss Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in December last year.

He is being held indefinitely in Broadmoor high-security hospital.

The boyfriend of the 23-year-old victim, André Hanscombe, claims Napper should have been detected, arrested and detained before he killed Miss Nickell.

He has complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which is now investigating.

Commissioner for the IPCC Deborah Glass said: “The allegations made in this complaint are numerous and serious.

"They range from allegations that investigating officers overlooked, discounted or otherwise wrongfully evaluated evidence, through to high-level strategic decisions by senior officers about the direction of the investigations."