Ups and downs of Colin Stagg’s life after being wrongly accused in the Rachel Nickell murder case

Netflix’s The Murder of Rachel Nickell and The Witness show how brutally Colin Stagg was wrongly accused of Rachel Nickell‘s 1992 murder and spent years living under suspicion before eventually being cleared, so where is he and what does his life look like now?

Colin Stagg received a public apology and compensation

via Netflix

After Robert Napper was convicted, the Metropolitan Police formally apologised to Stagg. As reported by ITV News, Assistant Commissioner John Yates said, “In August 1993, he was wrongly accused of Miss Nickell’s murder. It is clear he is completely innocent of any involvement in this case and I today apologise to him for the mistakes that were made in the early 1990s.

“We also recognise the huge and lasting impact this had on his life and, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, I have today sent him a full written apology.”

Stagg was later awarded £706,000 compensation from the Home Office. He described receiving the money as being “like winning the lottery”.

Speaking in comments reported in 2017, he said, “I was making up for lost time, doing the things I should’ve done in my youth if it hadn’t been blighted by Rachel’s murder.”

He wrote a book and tried to move on with his life

via Netflix

According to Cosmopolitan, Stagg later co-wrote a book with thriller author David Kessler called Who Really Killed Rachel?, which was published in 1999. The book detailed the police investigation and Stagg’s experience of being wrongly accused.

He has also spoken openly about how difficult life became after the case. In Netflix’s The Murder of Rachel Nickell, Stagg said people would shout “guilty!” and “hang him!” at him in the street because of the publicity surrounding the investigation.

He also reflected on the undercover operation that targeted him. “I’d never had a proper girlfriend up to the point of 29, so when I received a letter from Lizzie James I just felt really happy that a woman had shown interest in me,” he said.

“I had low self-esteem before this all started, this knocked me back further.”

Colin Stagg wanted to get married again after his first marriage failed

via Netflix

Most Read

So, Mackenzie Shirilla has now fully ‘confessed’ she *did* crash the car on purpose

Breaking: George has QUIT Love Island 2026 after just one day

Everyone’s freaking out over a new Apple product called Loop, but is it real?!

One of the biggest developments in Stagg’s personal life came in 1995. He married care worker Diane Beddoes in a wedding that attracted huge media attention at the time. However, the marriage later ended.

Years later, Stagg reconnected with Terri Marchant, who he had known since primary school. They reconnected through Friends Reunited and lived together for around five years.

Stagg told The Mirror, “We’ll just do it at a registry office and then go on honeymoon to Cornwall, which is a place we both love.”

Marchant also publicly defended him. She said, “He’s not the man he was portrayed as. He was portrayed as a monster, but it was all lies and totally wrong. He’s kind and caring and he’s very generous.”

He later found work in retail

Rebuilding his life wasn’t easy. Stagg struggled to find work because many people still associated him with the Rachel Nickell case despite him being innocent.

However, he later worked at Dunelm before taking a job at Tesco Express. Photos from 2021 showed him arriving for shifts at the supermarket.

He also faced homelessness at one point

via Netflix

Despite receiving compensation and trying to rebuild his life, Stagg later experienced more difficulties. According to the Daily Mail, in 2023, he was living in emergency accommodation after splitting from his partner and spending his compensation money.

Speaking to The Mirror, he said, “It’s a terrible shock being homeless at my age.

“I never had big ambitions but I certainly didn’t see myself spending my 60th birthday in a homeless hostel.”

As of 2026, Stagg is still speaking publicly about the case and taking part in documentaries examining the investigation.

The Murder of Rachel Nickell is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.