COLIN Stagg has asked for people to trust him again after police this week questioned a man over the horrific killing of Rachel Nickell in 1992.

Mr Stagg, who was cleared in 1994 of the murder, said: "If this is the man who did it, hopefully it will put an end to this once and for all for the family of Rachel Nickell and for me.

"The main thing I want is for people to trust me and to realise that I haven't done anything wrong.

"Hopefully I will get a job out of this too. Nobody will employ me. I haven't had a job for 14 years."

Mr Stagg, now 43, who lives in Roehampton, was charged with the murder of the 23-year-old model a year after she was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times on Wimbledon Common while out walking with her two-year-old son.

He was acquitted when an Old Bailey judge ruled that evidence from a "honeytrap" police operation was inadmissible.

Mr Stagg said 14 years later people still point the finger of blame at him.

"There are still people who think there's no smoke without fire and that the police must have had a reason to arrest me.

"People claim I lied to the police and that there is a lot of evidence linking me to the crime, but I say show what that evidence is. The prosecution said they had nothing to offer," he said.

Mr Stagg spoke out after news that police were interviewing a man, reportedly a 40-year-old patient at top-security hospital Broadmoor, in Berkshire, over the murder.

At the time of going to press the suspect was due to be asked for a DNA sample.

Breakthroughs in DNA techniques, made after Scotland Yard launched a review of the investigation in 2002 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Rachel's death, mean evidence can now be used that was not available 14 years ago.

The death of Rachel Nickell has never faded from the consciousness of people living in the area.

Diana Humphries has lived on Wimbledon Parkside for 35 years.

She said: "It still haunts us to this day. My friends and I never walk down where she was killed.

"Before I didn't think twice about walking there with my dogs. It's a very isolated part of the common and if we did get into trouble there nobody would hear us.

"I'll be worried about it until it's resolved and they put someone behind bars."