10/01/2007

Stagg set to receive compensation

Colin Stagg, the man cleared of the murder of Rachel Nickell, is eligible for a compensation payout from the Home Office.

The Home Office has confirmed that Mr Stagg, 43, has been told that he is eligible for payment under the discretionary compensation scheme, although they would not confirm reports that the amount could be as much as £250,000.

The amount received by Mr Stagg will be decided by independent assessor.

Miss Nickell, a 23-year-old model, was stabbed 49 times as she walked on Wimbledon Common with her two-year-old son in July 1992. She was also sexually assaulted.

Mr Stagg, of Roehampton, south-west London, was convicted of the murder of Miss Nickell in August 1993, but the case was later thrown out on the grounds that police had used a "honey trap" plot in order to get him to confess to the murder.

Last June, it emerged that police were questioning a 40-year-old man - reported to be a patient at Broadmoor secure hospital - in connection with Miss Nickell's murder.

(KMcA/EF)


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