Stagg: I want to meet Rachel's family... we all need closure

Plea by man wrongly accused of Nickell murder

- DAN WARBURTON

THE man wrongly jailed for one of Britain's most infamous murders is desperate to meet the victim's family and says he understands their "misdirected" anger towards him.

Colin Stagg, 60, spent 13 months in prison after being set up in a honeytrap operation by detectives investigating the killing of Rachel Nickell, 23.

She was stabbed 49 times in front of her two-year-old son Alex on Wimbledon Common in July 1992.

After a year in custody awaiting trial, an Old Bailey judge threw out the case against Colin, branding the undercover plot to snare him "reprehensible".

Colin said Rachel's family continued to view him with contempt until schizophrenic Robert Napper was identified as Rachel's real killer in 2008.

Colin, who is now homeless and living in temporary accommodation after blowing his £700,000 Home Office compensation payout, said: "I've always had an incredible amount of sympathy for the family since it first happened. It really depressed me that they thought I was still guilty for so long and only got off on a technicality.