Naman Shrestha
In the summer of 1992, Rachel Nickell was with her son, Alex, when she met her untimely demise in broad daylight in a London park. When the news broke, it sent shockwaves through the entire community. The investigation initially led the detectives to Colin Stagg, who was considered the prime suspect in the case. However, it was only years later that the authorities apprehended the real perpetrator, Robert Napper. All the intricate details of the case and the investigation that ensued are covered in Netflix’s ‘The Murder of Rachel Nickell,’ highlighting how Colin was falsely accused of the crime.
Colin Stagg Spent More Than a Year Behind Bars For a Crime He Didn’t Commit
When Rachel Nickell was found dead on Wimbledon Common on July 15, 1992, the police launched a homicide investigation. After releasing a composite sketch of the suspect to the public, a few witnesses claimed that it resembled Colin Francis Stagg, a Roehampton man known for walking his dog on the Common. Out of the 32 men the detectives questioned, they believed that Colin was the killer. Upon questioning, he admitted to being around the crime scene at the time of the murder, but claimed that he had nothing to do with it. The investigators also executed a search warrant in his home, where they found a knife and pornography, but no forensic evidence linking him to the crime. They then designed a “honeytrap” operation called Operation Edzell, in which an undercover police officer from the Metropolitan Police Special Operations Group posed as Lizzie James and got close to Colin.
During the five months of the operation, the undercover cop pretended to be romantically interested in Colin and tried to uncover his possible involvement in Rachel’s death. She managed to gain his confidence, but he didn’t confess to the murder. Lizzie told him in a taped conversation, “If only you had done the Wimbledon Common murder, if only you had killed her, it would be all right.” He replied, “I’m terribly sorry, but I haven’t.” Despite lacking direct evidence linking him to the crime, the police arrested him at his home in Roehampton on August 17, 1993. He was charged with Rachel’s murder and held in custody for about 13 months before the case against him was thrown out as the entrapment evidence was excluded and deemed inadmissible. On September 14, 1994, Colin walked out of the court a free man.
Colin Stagg Prefers to Keep His Life Away From the Limelight
Although Colin Stagg was acquitted and released from police custody, he was allegedly hounded on the streets by the public for more than a decade until Robert Napper was charged with Rachel’s murder in December 2007. The police eventually admitted they had previously gotten the wrong man. Apart from receiving apologies from Rachel’s family and friends, who hated him for years, Colin was also awarded £706,000 in compensation by the Home Office for the trouble that the police caused him. In TV interviews that he did in the following years, he admitted to blowing his compensation money on his luxury lifestyle, purchasing vehicles, clothes, and jewelry for himself and his girlfriend. After the money had all gone, he began working at Tesco and leading a life away from the limelight.
However, during a conversation with Express in April 2025, Colin claimed he had actually donated half a million pounds from his compensation to charitable causes such as WWF, animal welfare organisations, Blue Cross, and the RSPCA. He also revealed that he lost his home soon after squandering the sum. He stated, “It still affects me now and the mind wanders and you start thinking about it all. Speaking about it to a crowd helps in some way – to get it off my chest. Lots of people didn’t know about the truth and what police were saying was all lies – that only came to light years later. Speaking about it now is some sort of cathartic experience. I am still a lonely person, I live alone with my dog but talking like this does help.”
Claiming that he was homeless and unemployed for a while, he also expressed his disappointment in a lot of his friends, who turned their back on him after he ran out of money. “I’ve always been good with money but cannot believe I got through it so quickly. I was not living the high life as some were claiming. I didn’t go on exotic holidays or anything like that. I bought a decent car and just lived the way I did. My bills were always paid – but I was let down by people I trusted,” he told The Sun in 2023. In 2025, he was going back on tour with journalist, author, and podcaster Jon Ronson, as a guest. He explained, “He introduces me as a special guest and I discuss the case. While many have forgotten, the older generation all recognises me. I talk about how the honeytrap occurred – how they entrapped me and the phycological impact it had on me.” As of today, Colin leads a quiet, simple life with his dog, Taz, in Farnborough.
Read More: Alexander Hanscombe: Where is Rachel Nickell’s Son Now?
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