Woman lost £20,000 reward for helping catch murderer because she called police rather than Crimestoppers

A woman who helped bring a double murderer to justice has missed out on a £20,000 reward because she contacted police instead of Crimestoppers.

Michelle Sadler, 41, dialled 999 after she spotted James Fairweather , 17, lurking in bushes as she walked her dog.

Her call led to his arrest and conviction for the murders of dad-of-five James Attfield, 33, and Saudi student Nahid Almanea, 31.

But the hairdresser has missed out on reward money because she did not call Crimestoppers .

 Mum-of-one Michelle said: “Everyone who knows me knows I never did it for the money.

"I just know myself he wasn’t going to get caught if I hadn’t done anything, so I’m so glad how it’s turned out.

"For me, it’s more the fact that a phone call from the likes of Steve Worron [who headed up the murder investigations] wouldn’t have gone amiss.

"I gave up a lot of my time to help them - and I didn’t mind doing it - but someone just saying ‘thank you’ would be nice.”

Murder victims James and Nahid were stabbed to death in Colchester, Essex, in 2014

 

Detectives launched a massive hunt for their killer and Crimestoppers offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of “the person or persons” responsible.

In May last year Michelle was walking her dog when she spotted Fairweather hiding in bushes, wearing surgical gloves.

The teenager was arrested and told police he would have gone on to kill 15 more times if he hadn't been caught.

Phil Harris/Daily Mirror

Salary Brook nature reserve, Colchester, where Michelle Sadler spotted James Fairweather lurking in bushes

Fairweather, aged just 15 at the time of his killings, was jailed for life last week at the Old Bailey.

A Crimestoppers spokeswoman said: “Michelle Sadler is not eligible for a Crimestoppers reward in this case because she contacted the police directly.

“Crimestoppers is a charity that allows the public to give information about crimes completely anonymously – we are there for people who, for whatever reason, feel they cannot contact the authorities.

“Our rewards do come with the condition that we will only pay in relation to information given directly through our anonymous service.

“This is something that we always make clear in our press releases.

“If a person wishes to contact the police directly then they do not fall within the terms of a reward from Crimestoppers.”

Essex Police declined to comment.

Culled from Mirror UK