By coincidence, I have just finished reading The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton, the psychologist used by the police to help profile the killer of Rachael Nickell and also another victim of Robert Napper and her young daughter.
Yes Colin Stagg was a victim of a 'honeytrap' but when reading the book you will discover that far from being a completely innocent member of the public, Colin Stagg held some extremely disturbing fantasies which were very similar to Rachaels murder involving the common and although he was shown a photo of the way her body was left, according to the book, he described details that only someone who had seen the body could know.

db, essex, uk

This is one of those cases where public opinion demands the pollice find the criminal. The police totally scewed up first time so who will have any faith in their 'evidence' this time?

Why are poeple who couldn't care less about other murder victims so concened with this one? Just because of the massive press coverage?

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

With a result again such as this what makes us think that the correct evaluation, and suspect\s being charged at the end of the McCann (missing Maddie) case.
or in few years time the case being re-opened and supposed new evidence being upturned or turned over to accuse someone else, it all instills very little confidence in the law and legal system, especially in the larger cases or more serious crimes.

mike oakes, Jersey, Channel Islands

People have worked tirelessly in this case. May she finally be allowed her justice. 49 times she was stabbed. And quite how this suspect's first murders were never rasied as a high profile case by the media (a mother and her daughter, horrifically murdered in cold blood... I undertsand the details were too horrific for the the public to be fully informed about!) is a disgrace. I hope her son and family are well and get some 'closure'. Sadly this suspect will get no more than he has already been sentenced to. And who knows.... he may even be released in 30 years, by accident, to do it all over again!

Mr James, Sutton, Surrey

Yet another MET frame up craters. Punishing the innocent is not only a crime, it is also corruption. Pity some of the compensation can't be taken from senior police officers' pensions. Might make them a little more circumspect in the future.

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan

Now will Mr Stagg get an official apology from the bumbling Met and hope he'll get a good payout for all his troubles from them.

cww, suffolk,

Wasn't Barry George. now serving life for the murder of Jill Dando, also a "prime suspect" in this case?

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

Well, that didn`t take too long for the Met to confess they had the wrong man
How many years ago did they have doubts about Colin Stagg`s
guilt , while he languished in prison
It`s not just the government who are incompetent under thier leader.

John , plymouth, UK

I worked in the High Street where Colin Stagg was housed near by after the collapsed trial.The police were disgraceful in the way that they went in to all the shops,banks and building societies and told us that in the next few days he would be walking our local streets and that he had done it. Yes , you could say that they had our welfare at state but he was just an odd man in the wrong place.( near wimbledon) I can remember him being interviewed on the late shows with his then girlfriend and the poor man went through hell!
His life has been changed forever and I do think in the end he will now benefit from this ordeal ,but at a price!
I hope he can now sleep at night and know that justice has been served and that Mr Napper is never let out again to repeat his actions. The efforts the police went to to convict the wrong man might have caught the right man at lot earlier and Colin Stagg could have rebuilt his life 10 years earlier.

Rachel, Surrey, England

But I thought that when the poor
Colin Stagg was hounded the way that he was and aquitted, the Met were not looking for anyone else?

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

As the father of a two-year-old child at the time and a resident of South London I remember this case well.
The way Colin Stagg was hounded over this was visibly wrong, but the Met seemed to be responding to the tabloids in the worst possible way. The case seemed to hinge around him being an inadequate and a conviction for nude sunbathing. I also remember the outcry when Stagg, whose life had been wrecked, obtained compensation for the fit-up.
I wonder how many other wrong convictions the "fit-up" Met have achieved and whether their attitudes are any better now. I somehow doubt it.

Dave, slough,