THE brave woman who helped catch double murderer James Fairweather will not pick up a Crimestoppers reward - because she went to the police first.

In the months after Fairweather murdered 33-year-old dad-of-five James Attfield and Saudi student Nahid Almanea, Crimestoppers launched a reward of up to £20,000 for information relating to the conviction of "the person or persons" responsible for the brutal deaths.

But despite Michelle Sadler calling police after spotting Fairweather lurking on the Salary Brook Trail and directing officers to where he was hiding, she is set to miss out the reward money.

Mum-of-one Ms Sadler, 41, 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."

Gazette readers have posted widely in support of the salon owner, who lives off Longridge.

One said: "Seriously brave action and the town is immensely indebted to her.

"The vigilance and calm displayed proved utterly fruitful."

Another added: "This lady deserves a medal and a reward.

"She has single-handily saved Colchester and its people from further murders through her own bravery."

Another poster wrote: "If it wasn't for her calm actions this town would still be under threat from this deranged person.

"She definitely deserves a reward for this."

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.

"We sometimes offer rewards in high profile cases as an incentive for those people and it does, on occasion, bring in vital information that the police would not have received directly.

"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."