Rachel Nickell’s brutalised body was found on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alex wiping her bloodied face and begging her to 'wake up'. The nature of the broad daylight attack and the horrific injuries put enormous pressure on the Met to get the case solved and fast. However, none of that justifies the shoddy police work, cut corners, and tunnel vision that allowed a serial rapist to go unchecked for years.