Nickell case hoax phone calls 'wasted 5,000': Woman to be sentenced for misleading detectives

(First Edition)

A WOMAN who told police that her lover had murdered Rachel Nickell, leading them to follow up the lead in California, was yesterday remanded for sentencing.

Ms Nickell was murdered while walking with her two-year-old son on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, on 15 July 1992. The boy was found clutching her body.

Susan Eyles, 32, of Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, telephoned police from her office in the town, using a false name, 'Helen'. She told them that her lover 'Gary Edmondson' had killed Ms Nickell because he was sexually frustrated. 'Helen' said he had confessed to her.

Later, in another telephone call, she put on an American accent and said she was 'Josie', a Californian student.

The calls about the fictitious man, whom 'Helen' also said was her cousin, threw police off the trail of the real killer and involved inquiries at the University of California.

At an earlier hearing, Kerrie Bell, for the prosecution, told the court: 'Even an inquiry of this nature has a finite budget and pounds 5,000 was wasted. It was money which could have been spent on other, possibly more fruitful, lines of inquiry.

'The total does not take into account the time and money wasted by people at British Telecom, London University, the University of California, the US Embassy, St Catherine's House and by everyone else who tried to help the police inquiry,' she said.

Last month before Wimbledon magistrates, Eyles admitted wasting 490 police man hours, costing pounds 5,600, in the series of calls between 29 September and 26 November 1992. Yesterday, in her absence, she was remanded on unconditional bail to 26 April for sentencing.