THE brutal death of a former Colchester schoolgirl could have been prevented, a damning report is expected to reveal.

Rachel Nickell was stabbed 49 times while walking her dog on Wimbledon Common in July 1992.

A passing walker found her two-year-old son crying and crouched beside his mother’s blood-soaked body.

Her horrific death shocked the nation and became one of the country’s most notorious un-solved crimes until psychopath Robert Napper admitted her manslaughter in December 2008.

Miss Nickell was a pupil at Great Totham Primary School, going on to Colchester County High School for Girls after passing her 11-plus exam. The 23-year-old was at the girls’ grammar school between 1980 and 1985, before leaving to take A-levels at Colchester Institute.

The ex-model’s partner Andre Hanscombe, now 47, has been highly vocal on the alleged failings by police to catch Rachel’s killer earlier.

Since Napper’s arrest, it has emerged that police missed a number of chances to catch him as he embarked on a five-year spree of terrifying rapes and sex attacks. His mother contacted police in 1989 to say her son had confessed to raping a woman.

It has been widely believed that had police taken action then, Napper, who is in Broadmoor, would never have been free to commit his crime against Miss Nickell or subsequently to murder Samantha Bissett and her four-year-old daughter Jazmine in 1993.

A report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, due to be published soon, is expected to say that the two murders could have been prevented.

However, it is also expected to state that no officers can now be disciplined over the failures because they have all since retired from the force.