FILMING for a drama on the investigation into the devastating murder of a former Colchester schoolgirl has begun.

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.

During the high-pressure investigation police set up a honeytrap to catch a suspect they believed to have carried out the murder.

The four part drama entitled My Name is Lizzie will examine the controversial honeytrap.

Written by Emilia di Girolamo and produced by Story Films it will be shown on Channel 4.

Niamh Algar, star of The Virtues and Raised by Wolve, plays ambitious police officer Lizzie James who is asked to be bait for the suspected killer.

Caroline Hollick, Head of Channel 4 Drama said: “The unique female perspective of Emilia’s extraordinary scripts will shine a light on one of the most shocking stories in modern policing, in a drama which combines Story Films’ trademark journalistic rigor with sensitivity and nuance.

"And it’s a privilege to be working with Niamh Algar, who is fast becoming an iconic star of the channel.”