The murder of Rachel Nickell is revisited tonight in Channel 4 drama Deceit – but where is Colin Stagg now?
He was falsely accused of her July 1992 murder on Wimbledon Common after a lengthy police investigation.
Four-part drama Deceit charts the Met’s Operation Edzell and is told from the perspective of undercover cop ‘Lizzie James’.
She was instructed to form a relationship with Stagg to get him to confess to the murder.
What happened to Rachel Nickell?
Rachel, who was 23, was stabbed 49 times in broad daylight while walking her dog on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son Alexander.
The new series delves into the police’s obsession with prime suspect Colin Stagg.
Read more: Line of Duty star among the cast of Rachel Nickell drama Deceit
After Lizze’s honeytrap, Colin was charged with Rachel’s murder and spent more than a year in custody – although he never confessed.
However, in 1994 the charge was dropped and a judge threw out evidence from Operation Edzell.
As a result, Stagg was later given £708,000 in compensation from the Metropolitan Police.
Where is Colin Stagg now?
Colin is living in south-east England with his wife and her four grown-up children.
Now 57, back in March it was reported that he has been working on the checkouts in his local Tesco.
Sometimes customers recognise him and can’t figure out where they’ve seen him.
It’s said his colleagues are aware of the Rachel Nickell investigation.
One friend said: “Sometimes customers recognise him and can’t figure out where they’ve seen him.”
The pal added that Stagg has moved on from the case and is “one of those people who doesn’t look back”.
“He recovered a long time ago. He’s one of those people who doesn’t look back,” they said.
Four years ago, Stagg admitted that he’d spent much of his compensation on cars, holidays, clothes, charity donations and flawed business investments.
He said: “I spent like there was no tomorrow and I was earning two or three grand a month in interest.
“I was making up for lost time doing the things I should’ve done in my youth if it hadn’t been blighted by Rachel’s murder.”
Who did kill Rachel Nickell?
In 2008, serial rapist and double killer Robert Napper was convicted of the manslaughter of Miss Nickell after a DNA breakthrough.
At the time of Rachel’s murder, Napper bore a striking resemblance to Stagg.
Read more: Why did Robert Napper kill Rachel Nickell?
Coming from a troubled and dysfunctional background, Napper has paranoid schizophrenia and Asperger’s.
In December 2008, Napper admitted to Rachel’s manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to be held indefinitely at Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane.
In his summing up at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Griffiths Williams said to Napper: “You are on any view a very dangerous man.”
Four-part drama Deceit starts tonight (August 13) on Channel 4 at 9pm.
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