The True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘The Witness’ – Where André and Alex Hanscombe Are Today
The name Rachel Nickell has never truly left public consciousness since that devastating July morning in 1992. Now, the story of what happened to her family in the decades that followed has finally been given the full, unflinching treatment it deserves, and audiences cannot stop talking about it.
Netflix dropped the three-part limited series ‘The Witness‘ on June 4, 2026, alongside a companion documentary feature titled ‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell’, both released on the same day. At the center of both projects are two people who lived through the unimaginable, father André Hanscombe and his son Alex.
The Night Everything Changed for André and Alex
In July 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was brutally murdered while taking her young son Alex for a walk on Wimbledon Common in southwest London. Out of nowhere she was stabbed 49 times by an unknown assailant, while Alex, almost three at the time, was left with minor injuries.
On the morning of the attack, André had remembered Rachel and Alex waving to him from the apartment window as he prepared to get on his motorcycle for another day of work. What followed was a trauma that would reshape both of their lives entirely.
Young Alex was the only witness to the killing, and later described the attacker as a white man, tall with brown hair, who had a black bag and a white shirt. He says he repeatedly asked his mother to get up, but she had died. Alex was found, caked in mud and blood, clinging to his mother’s body, and according to André, police had to pry him away from her.
The Aftermath: Media Pressure and the Wrong Man
In the weeks and months following the murder, both André and Alex encountered enormous harassment from the press and general public. They were unable to live quiet lives, being constantly caught in the middle of a media storm.
Police focused heavily on Colin Stagg, who was later cleared. This mistake dragged on, stopping justice from happening anytime soon. Meanwhile, André coped with his grief while looking after Alex, who struggled with night terrors and sadness.
André described the period as “mind-bending the whole time,” explaining that there was nobody he could turn to for help because it was one of those extreme experiences that very few people had ever encountered.
Months after Rachel’s killing, André and Alex relocated to France, and three years later moved to Spain, where André coached tennis and the pair kept the details of their personal lives private. It was a deliberate, necessary retreat from a country that had turned their grief into a spectacle.
Where André and Alex Hanscombe Are Now
Both André and Alex finally received justice 15 years later with the arrest and prosecution of Robert Napper. Following his arrest and sentencing in 2008, both André and Alex continued to live in Spain.
They briefly moved back to London in the summer of 2024 to serve as consultants on the Netflix series. Into adulthood, Alex has focused on a career path of mindfulness and mental well-being, working as a yoga teacher and a hypnotherapist.
Alex has spoken openly about his reasons for finally telling their story in full, saying that previous interviews and programs had been made with the best intentions but were “just scraping the surface.” In 2015, Alex published a memoir titled ‘Letting Go: A true story of murder, loss and survival’, describing it as part of his ongoing attempt to make sense of and come to terms with what happened.
How ‘The Witness’ Brings Their Story to Life
The three-part drama was written and created by Rob Williams and directed by Alex Winckler. Jordan Bolger plays André while Max Fincham plays teenage Alex, with Jahsaiah Williams taking on the role of young Alex.
‘The Witness’ is unique in the fact that it does not focus on the police investigation, but instead on the powerful emotional journey between father and son André and Alex. André has said that although the series is not a home video, the team working on the drama worked incredibly hard to ensure that everything felt true in spirit to how he and Alex lived it.
Speaking to Netflix Tudum, Alex explained that he and his father see their story as a battle between good and evil, and that while evil is real, the power for good is always greater, and something positive can come out of everyone’s pain and suffering.
Critical Reception and Why This Story Still Matters
Alongside the miniseries, Netflix released the documentary ‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell’, which has been shaping up to be one of the best new true crime documentaries released this year.
‘The Witness’ has earned a stellar 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes since its debut, in addition to widespread praise for its treatment of its subject matter. Critics and viewers alike have noted how rare it is for a true crime project to center survivor dignity above sensation.
The series is also the first time the story has been told from the perspective of the surviving family members and with their direct consultation, which gives ‘The Witness’ a weight and intimacy that sets it apart from every previous retelling.
After more than three decades, André and Alex have chosen to take ownership of their own story, and the result is something that feels less like true crime entertainment and more like an act of remembrance. If you have watched ‘The Witness’, do you think Netflix and the Hanscombes have finally done justice to Rachel’s memory, and to everything André and Alex endured to get here?
