Robert Napper fatally stabbed Rachel Nickell but spared her 2-year-old son, Alex, who was present for the attack
Credit: Casey Rodgers/AP; Courtesy of Netflix
NEED TO KNOW
- Robert Napper fatally stabbed Rachel Nickell but left her 2-year-old son Alex physically unharmed in 1992
- Less than two years later, he killed mother Samantha Bisset and her 4-year-old daughter, Jazmine Bisset
- Psychologists have theorized Napper purposely spared Alex because he was a boy, while investigators have cited the attack as a crime of opportunity
In July 1992, Robert Napper fatally stabbed 23-year-old mother Rachel Nickell.
At the time of the brutal murder, Nickell was walking with her 2-year-old son, Alex, on a path in Wimbledon Common in southwest London. Even though Napper stabbed Nickell 49 times and sexually assaulted her, he only pushed Alex to the ground and didn't otherwise physically harm him.
Alex was found clinging to his mother and was forced to recount the details of the tragic event to the police. Although investigators initially wrongfully arrested local community member Colin Stagg, over a decade later they tied Napper to the crime through DNA evidence.
Before he was caught though, Napper assaulted and killed mother Samantha Bisset and her 4-year-old daughter, Jazmine Bisset, in their southeast London home. Police connected Napper to the double homicide from forensic evidence obtained from the scene.
Upon arresting Napper, they were also able to connect him to a string of rapes and assaults along the Green Chain Walk. By the end of the investigation, authorities determined that Napper was the perpetrator and connected him to 106 assault reports, according to The Guardian.
In 2008, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Nickell's death but didn't provide an explanation for his motive — or why he spared Alex's life. Although Napper has never publicly addressed his motives while detained at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, investigators have looked into his complicated background and mental illness history to try to make sense of his decisions.
Here's everything to know about Robert Napper's background and theories as to why he killed Rachel Nickell but left her toddler son, Alex, physically unharmed.
Robert Napper was raised in an abusive household
Credit: Casey Rodgers/AP
Napper, who was raised in southeast London, was born and raised in a household where his father, Brian, was violent toward his mother, Pauline, according to The Guardian and The Times. Napper's mother divorced his father by the time he was 10 years old, but Napper and his siblings were placed in foster care as a result of the abuse and Pauline's deteriorating health.
When he was 12 years old, Napper was allegedly sexually assaulted by a family friend. Pauline described him as introverted, obsessively clean and lonely, per the publications. He went on to commit misdemeanor crimes, such as shoplifting, and allegedly bullied his siblings.
After dropping out of school, Napper moved to his own flat in Plumstead, London, and worked various manual-labor jobs. He was first flagged on the police radar starting in 1986 at age 19.
“Napper is a classic case of abuse meets neglect,” Professor Laurence Alison told The Times in 2008. “Trouble at school, disorder, petty crime — he's losing perspective, drifting away from reality.”
Napper displayed violent sexual behavior
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
From the time he was a child, Napper allegedly had violent sexual tendencies. Growing up, he reportedly watched his sister undress, per The Times.
Napper was also caught stalking women and secretly watching women in their homes, per The Guardian. The outlet further claimed that Napper was a sexual sadist and thought of sex and violence as one.
Since Napper was an isolated child and jumped from foster home to foster home, he may have built his foundation for sexual sadism on his years of neglect.
As for what turned his thoughts into extreme violence, Napper could have experienced a lack of intimacy, lack of understanding of himself and others and lack of empathy for children and their mothers, according to investigators and psychologists.
Napper was diagnosed with a series of mental illnesses throughout his life
Napper was diagnosed with various mental illnesses both before and after he committed his string of assaults and violent murders.
When he was a child, Napper was diagnosed with a “highly toxic mixture” of paranoid schizophrenia and Asperger's syndrome, per The Telegraph. He subsequently underwent psychiatric counseling for years.
The Times further reported that Napper became paranoid and convinced that he was telepathic and had been attacked by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
After getting caught and charged with Samantha and Jazmine Bisset's murders, Napper was re-evaluated by a psychiatrist at the Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital.
Forensic psychiatrist Natalie Pyszora treated Napper and testified that he had both Asperger's syndrome and paranoid schizophrenia, per The Times. To illustrate his delusions, Pyszora shared in court that Napper told her he had earned a Nobel Peace Prize and had medals from fighting in Angola.
Pyszora concluded that Napper had become increasingly irrational and may have felt untouchable and telepathic when he killed Nickell.
Napper likely expressed his rage only at women
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Some of the psychiatrists who have analyzed the case have pointed out that there may have been a deeper reason Napper killed 4-year-old Jazmine but spared Alex, who was around a year younger.
Napper's past trauma of seeing his mother abused and the isolation and sexual sadism that followed could have led him to having a deep hatred for women.
As far as investigators know, over the course of his crime spree, Napper exclusively assaulted and attacked women and left the only boy he crossed paths with physically unharmed. However, he assaulted and killed Jazmine, which may have been because she was female, per The Guardian.
Napper may have even specifically targeted mothers with young children in order to express his true feelings over what happened to him as a child with his own mother. As his crimes escalated, Napper may have developed a preference for having "children present" to see the victims trying to — and occasionally unable to — protect their children.
"Frenzied random motiveless knife attacks on women are rare. Even more unusual are frenzied, random knife attacks on women with their young children present," Professor Alison told The Guardian.
However, some detectives disagree with psychologists and argue that Napper only chose victims with children nearby because they were more vulnerable and more likely to obey him to protect the kids.
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