THE son of a butchered former Great Totham schoolgirl says he forgives her killer.

Rachel Nickell, 23, was stabbed 49 times and sexually assaulted in front of son Alex Hanscombe, then aged two, while walking their dog on Wimbledon Common.

Alex was found by a passer-by clinging to her body, crying ‘Mummy, get up’.

The 1992 attack shocked the country and was one of the UK’s most high-profile cold cases until paranoid schizophrenic Robert Napper, 42, admitted manslaughter.

Rachel was a pupil at Great Totham Primary School, before going on to Colchester County High School for Girls after passing her 11-plus exam.

She was at the girls’ grammar school between 1980 and 1985, before leaving to take A-levels at Colchester Institute.

Napper went on to brutally murder Samantha Bisset and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine the following year.

Now Alex and dad Andre, who was Rachel’s boyfriend, have said they have forgiven Napper.

In an interview with a national newspaper, the pair said: ‘If you don’t forgive you become like the person who caused you harm’.

They also said they now felt sympathy towards Rachel’s killer.

Alex and Andre moved to Barcelona after Rachel’s death.