In Netflix’s ‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell,’ the primary focus is on the gruesome killing of a young mother named Rachel Nickell in July 1992 in London’s Wimbledon Common. What made it all the more horrific is the fact that she was killed in front of her young son, Alex. Several months later, in 1993, the authorities got a double homicide case in the Plumstead area, involving the murder of Samantha Bisset and her daughter, Jazmine Bisset. The documentary also focuses on the Bisset killings, as its investigation led to the uncovering of the real perpetrator behind Rachel’s murder.
Samantha and Jazmine Bisset Were Found Dead in Their Plumstead Home
Born in 1966 in England, Samantha “Sam” Bisset became a mother in 1989, giving birth to her daughter, Jazmine Jemima Bisset. The doting mother lived with her daughter in the Plumstead area in London. In the early 1990s, Samantha was in a healthy relationship with Conrad Ellam, who loved her and treated Jazmine as his own daughter. Samantha looked forward to spending her life with Conrad and watching her daughter grow into a successful woman. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
On the fateful day of November 3, 1993, the mother and daughter were killed in their Plumstead flat. According to reports, their remains were discovered by Conrad, who notified the authorities about the same. When the detectives arrived at the crime scene, they found no DNA evidence, no sign of a break-in, and only a few clues to help them catch the perpetrator. They reported that Samantha had been stabbed to death in the hallway more than 50 times and dragged through to the living room, where she was sexually assaulted and mutilated. Meanwhile, they concluded that Jazmine had been smothered to death. Thus, a homicide investigation was immediately launched.
Samantha and Jazmine Bisset’s Killer Left His Fingerprints at the Crime Scene
When the authorities initially checked the fingerprints they found at the crime scene, they didn’t find any leads. However, upon carefully reviewing the fingerprints again, the investigators connected a few prints to a man named Robert Napper, who also lived in Plumstead and had a short criminal history. By then, Robert had already killed 23-year-old Rachel Nickell in Wimbledon Common on July 15, 1992, for which he was charged and convicted more than a decade later. Armed with DNA evidence against him, in May 1994, the authorities arrested Robert at his home on Plumstead High Street, located just half a mile away from the Bisset household.
Charged with the double homicide, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. During his interrogation, he gave strange answers in the third person. Upon searching his home, the detectives discovered a red toolbox containing knives, a book about strangulation methods and vulnerable points in the human body. They also found a map of the London area, with all sorts of markings, including in the area where the Bisset family lived.
According to investigative reports, Robert was also considered a suspect in Rachel Nickell’s murder case, given the similarities between the two crime scenes. However, he denied having anything to do with Rachel’s killing. Finally, in October 1995, Robert was convicted of killing Samantha and Jazmine Bisset. During the trial, he also confessed to committing two other rapes and two attempted rapes. Reportedly, he was detained in a high-security psychiatric institution, Broadmoor Hospital, as he had paranoid schizophrenia.
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