Stagg wins £700,000 'lottery' payout but son who saw Rachel Nickell murdered gets just £90,000

by sweet east pearl | August 13, 2008 at 04:31 pm

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Colin Stagg, who was cleared of murdering model Rachel Nickell 16 years ago, has been awarded more than 700,000 pounds compensation for wrongful arrest and prosecution. For over a decade he was shrouded in suspicion after a failed police investigation - but new evidence has led to another man being charged with the murder.

Colin Stagg, 45, described the payout as 'like winning the lottery'.

His only immediate spending plans were to buy his council flat and put in a new kitchen and bathroom.

Mr Stagg spent 13 months in custody and had his reputation torn to pieces before a judge threw out the case. But he still endured more than a decade of speculation that he was, in fact, the killer.

Last year Robert Napper was charged with the murder. He will stand trial in November.

The Home Office payout - a record for someone wrongly charged - is certain to provoke a debate over the compensation system for victims of crime.

It dwarfs the amount paid to Miss Nickell's son Alex, who witnessed her murder at the age of two. It took a seven-year legal battle before the youngster, now living abroad with his father, was awarded £90,000 for trauma and loss of the services of a mother.