Nickell police seek new meeting

Scotland Yard detectives investigating the murder of Rachel Nickell want a second interview with a British man now living in New Zealand.

A police spokesman said a number of checks were being made with officers in London relating to information from the first interview with the 31- year-old former London barman.

Detective Chief Inspector Allan Jude and Detective Constable Russ Norvall flew to Hastings on New Zealand's North Island after a new witness in the inquiry reported spotting a man with a blood-soaked shirt on the day of the murder.

The man whom they wish to speak to again moved to New Zealand in February 1993 and shares a bungalow with his 25-year-old New Zealand girlfriend. Police have already had two interviews lasting five hours with the woman.

Inquiries in London are continue into an alibi given by the man for the day Miss Nickell was murdered on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, in July 1992.

He is reported to have insisted that he was playing golf with friends and told one newspaper: "I didn't do it. I'm not their man." The man used to live on the Roehampton Estate, near Wimbledon Common. Colin Stagg, who also lives on the estate, was cleared of the murder. Miss Nickell, a former model, was stabbed 50 times while out walking with her young son. He was found clinging to her body, crying: "Get up, mummy".