The man wrongly accused of murdering Rachel Nickell has said he will sue the News of the World after discovering his mobile phone was hacked.

Scotland Yard has confirmed Colin Stagg is one of the many victims of phone hacking which may have been targeted by the Sunday tabloid in 2000.

It is believed to be the earliest known phone hacking allegation made since the investigation was reopened by police in February and Mr Stagg joins a growing list of people who are taking legal action against media giant News International.

Eleven years ago, the 48-year-old was believed by some to have got away with murdering the 23-year-old mother in Wimbledon Common, despite his acquittal at the Old Bailey in 1994 after spending 14 months in prison on remand.

In 2008, he won £706,000 compensation for wrongful arrest over the murder charge.

Stagg: "I was just an simple bloke in a nightmare situation"

Serial sex attacker Robert Napper was finally convicted of stabbing and sexually assaulting the 23-year-old mum in 2008, but an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed he should have been arrested much earlier.

At his home in Roehampton, Mr Stagg said: "I felt sick and angry when the police first contacted me about suspected hacking. It was this kind of media behaviour that made me a pariah in the public's mind.

"I endured years of abuse because the press thought there was open season on me - and I didn't have the means to fight back.

"Now I do and they aren't going to get away with it this time.

"I have instructed my solicitor to pursue this aggressively - through the courts if necessary.

"An apology won't be enough. They need to be hit in their pocket.

"I wasn't some showbiz star, celebrity or politician. I was just an simple bloke in a nightmare situation who was picked on by the mighty News of the World.

"Over the years they've stood on a high moral mole-hill to target ordinary people. So it's about time someone pilloried them for a change."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told the Wimbledon Guardian they never confirm or deny the identity of alleged victims of phone hacking.

But Mr Stagg’s solicitor said he was contacted by Scotland Yard’s Operation Weeting squad, based in Putney.

Alex Tribick, a specialist in miscarriage of justice cases, said: "This is a very disturbing development which confirms Colin's long held belief in an orchestrated press campaign against him.

"An officer from the Yard's Operation Weeting squad, investigating phone hacking by the News of the World, told me they had discovered Colin's name and other material relating to him.

"Obviously he is most concerned and we have been invited to a meeting with police to review the evidence.

"They are very keen for his help in their investigation. And my instructions are to pursue the matter vigorously in the courts."

Mr Stagg added: "It wasn't the News of the World's first pop at me. In 1996 they persuaded me to take a truth drug to 'prove my innocence'.

"But when I was caught in one small discrepency on the day of Rachel's murder they branded me a liar and implied that I had killed her.

"A few years later they humiliated me again. My sexy new girlfriend turned out to be a hooker hired by the paper to get close to me.

"The first I knew was when they printed two pages of complete lies about my so-called deviant sex life. The article also fuelled public hatred of me.

"So payback is long overdue."

In 2007, the News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, and former AFC Wimbledon footballer and private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were jailed for intercepting voicemail messages from the royal household.

A spokeswoman for News International said it would not comment on this story.