Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘The Witness’ follows the investigation into the brutal murder of Rachel Nickell. She was killed in a park while she was on a walk with her son, Alex, on July 15, 1992. With the two-year-old as the sole witness of the murder, the police have to find other ways to catch the culprit and bring him to justice. A recently promoted detective, Keith Pedder, joins the team, and the investigation takes an unorthodox, rather scandalous turn. In the show, when the results don’t turn out as his superiors expected, he has to bear the brunt of the fallout. The officer claimed a similar chain of events in real life as well.
Keith Pedder was an Investigating Officer in Rachel Nickell’s Case
Keith Pedder started his service in the Metropolitan Police in 1975 and slowly climbed the ranks. He moved from his first posting in Peckham, South London, to serving for five years in Tower Bridge, where he was mostly concerned with apprehending armed robbers with the Flying Squad. In 1992, he was promoted to Detective Inspector. Soon after this, Rachel Nickell was murdered in Wimbledon Commons, and Pedder was put in charge of the day-to-day investigation on the team.
After interviewing hundreds of people who were also at the park around the murder, the name of Colin Stagg repeatedly came up. He also matched the profile created by Professor Paul Britton, and the team was convinced that Stagg was the murderer. The problem was that he hadn’t confessed, and there was no strong piece of evidence to put him at the crime scene and prove his guilt beyond a doubt.
So, the team came up with an undercover operation, which they named Operation Edzell. In this, a female officer, Lizzie James, was tasked with building a relationship with Stagg through letters, in the hopes that he would incriminate himself. If not that, then he would at least be ruled out as a suspect. Eventually, Stagg was arrested on the basis of his correspondence with James, but it was found inadmissible in court, and Stagg was acquitted of all charges.
Keith Pedder Left the Force Soon After Colin Stagg’s Acquittal
Keith Pedder retired early from the Metropolitan Police in December 1995 after two decades of service. He cited depression, exhaustion, and other health issues as the reason behind his decision to move on from the force. Reportedly, he also took photocopies of papers on Rachel Nickell’s case, especially those pertaining to Operation Edzell. He used these documents as evidence to support the claims he planned to write about in his book, for which he even signed a contract.
However, in 1977, an unnamed policewoman came forward with the details of her extramarital affair with Pedder during the investigation into Rachel Nickell’s case. Following this, the publisher decided not to go forth with Pedder’s book. Eventually, though, he wrote and published two books on the subject: Murder on the Common and The Rachel Files. Reportedly, the book covered details of the involvement of the senior officers who had authorized Operation Edzell. He later publicly stated that officers like him faced criticism and had to bear the burden of the failed operation.
Meanwhile, the whole thing had been approved by superior officers who walked scot-free through the scandal. “What hacks me off is the shabby way they were treated for doing their jobs. Everything we did was sanctioned by senior officers, and the decision to charge Colin Stagg was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service,” he said. He also believed that because his book goes into the details of the whole thing, it would have been of “great concern at New Scotland Yard with regard to what [he] may have written.”
Keith Pedder Has Receded Into a Private Life
Following his retirement from the police force, Keith Pedder became a private detective. In 1998, he came into the spotlight after being arrested on corruption charges. It was claimed that he had tried to get information from the police national computer by inciting a police officer to do it for a case he was working on. He was cleared of all charges in 1999 during a pre-trial hearing, when the judge ruled the evidence against him “unfair.” Pedder claimed that this was a “set up” by the officers about whom he had written in his book on the Rachel Nickell case.
The police department denied the allegations, calling them unfounded. As for the huge error in judgment in pursuing Colin Stagg, Pedder admitted that the system didn’t serve him well, even though he was acquitted. “Colin Stagg has been through a version of justice, albeit truncated, and he has been found not guilty. But I wonder whether he can actually say hand on heart that he believes people will meet him in the street and believe that,” he said. Pedder has since built a life away from the public view. Now in his 70s, he likely wishes to spend the rest of his life in peace, unblemished by further conflict or scandal.
Read More: Alexander Hanscombe: Where is Rachel Nickell’s Son Now?
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