After £700,000 damages, Colin Stagg is in line for a SECOND payout

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Privately, a number of senior officers believe the force has no option but to say sorry to Mr Stagg and award him more damages for the police blunders which ruined his life.

Details of his second payout emerged 24 hours after it was revealed that he is to receive the Home Office award for being falsely accused of the murder of Rachel Nickell.

'Like winning the lottery': Mr Stagg on his award for being falsely accused of killing Rachel Nickell in 1992. He served a year in custody before being acquitted

After spending a year in custody, he was cleared of the 23-year-old’s murder in 1994 – but claims he has been a social pariah and unemployable ever since.

On Wednesday he described the £706,000 payout as ‘like winning the lottery’.

A record for someone wrongly charged, the sum dwarfs the £90,000 awarded to Miss Nickell’s son Alex, who as a two-year-old witnessed her horrific sex killing on Wimbledon Common in 1992.

A year after the killing, police charged Mr Stagg following a controversial ‘honeytrap’ operation involving an undercover woman detective. The case against him was thrown out when a judge lambasted police methods.

Mr Stagg’s second payout could be finalised before November, when a second man, Robert Napper, is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey accused of Miss Nickell’s murder.

A senior Scotland Yard source said last night: ‘When you think of some of the people we have apologised to over the years, it is almost inconceivable that Mr Stagg won’t receive an apology from the Met.’