Tragic son taken abroad for a new life

Alex Hanscombe was a month short of his third birthday when Robert Napper stabbed his mother 49 times in a frenzied attack.

In conversations with his father Andre, Alex has made it clear he remembers much of what happened on that appalling day.

Now aged 20 he is a trained mechanic and fluent in four languages.

His recovery is due in major part to his father's decision to move abroad seven months after the murder. The pair first lived in a farmhouse in France but then moved to Spain when their address was discovered.

For years Andre Hanscombe believed Colin Stagg was the culprit and he shared his fear with his son, saying the man many people still thought had killed his mother was walking free.

When Napper pleaded guilty to Miss Nickell's manslaughter at the Old Bailey last year both men had to come to terms with the fact that someone else was the true killer.

Mr Hanscombe travelled from his Mediterranean home to see Napper's admission but Alex decided to stay away.

Over the past years Mr Hanscombe has battled to give his son as normal an upbringing as possible and few people in their village are aware of their past.

In a previous interview he spoke proudly about his son: "He [Alex] was the tragic tot, his life was blighted - that was the script that had been written and we've managed to turn that script around completely. He's grown up in a very happy place."