Entertainment
Real life man wrongly accused of murder says he ‘came across well’ in Channel 4 drama Deceit and ‘doesn’t blame police’
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Colin Stagg, who was wrongly accused of the murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992, praised the Channel 4 drama Deceit for making him ‘come across well’.
Based on a true story, Nickell was stabbed to death by a man while walking with her two-year-old son Alexander on Wimbledon Common in London. Alexander was not killed.
The Met Police investigation led them to Colin who was first identified through a Crimewatch appeal.
He was contacted by an undercover female police officer who adopted the persona of ‘Lizzie’ and developed a relationship with him in an attempt to secure a confession. Colin, who was held in prison for 13 months, never confessed to Nickell’s murder.
After the police used the evidence they’d gathered on Colin to arrest him and put him on trial, he was found not guilty, with the judge stating that the police had tried to encourage him to make a confession by ‘deceptive conduct of the grossest kind’. He received £700,000 compensation.
Appearing on Thursday’s Good Morning Britain, Colin praised the drama for its portrayal of him but added that it had taken ‘dramatic licence’ at some points.
He told hosts Ranvir Singh and Charlotte Hawkins: ‘I come across in it quite well, there are a few items I could argue against but I’m not bothered about that.’
When asked by Ranvir to expand on his thoughts that he came across as ‘creepy’, Colin replied: ‘I think that’s just dramatic licence really, for the programme, I never came across like that at all.’
Colin is played by Sion Daniel Young in the drama (Picture: Channel 4)
Colin said Channel 4 had ‘dramatic licence’ (Picture: ITV)
However he did add: ‘The way they portrayed me I was roughly like that, a bit awkward and shy.
‘I was just responding to what Lizzie was telling me. Any man would tell any woman a lie to get what they want. It was no different from that basically.’
When asked what his thoughts are on the Met Police he shared: ‘I don’t blame the police at all, all they were doing was their job and they got wrapped up in the false statements people were making at the time.
‘I couldn’t blame them for being convinced it was me.’
More: Good Morning Britain
He added: ‘I am over it. I don’t see myself as a victim, I never look backwards, backwards is negative, forwards is positive. When people ask me I can’t remember anything about it.’
Colin revealed he gave most of his compensation to animal charities.
‘I’m not driven by money, it didn’t change my life really,’ he said.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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