IT is not unusual for actors to be confused with the characters they play.

But one actor’s Crimewatch performance was so convincing he has been accused of the murder he was helping to solve – by people who know him

They have told police he is the killer they seek - 21 years after the TV show was originally broadcast.

Steve Watson answered a BBC advert for someone to play a man wanted for the murder of mother-of-two Julie Pacey in 1994.

Nursery school worker Julie was strangled and sexually assaulted and found dead in the bathroom of her home in Grantham, Lincolnshire, by her horrified 14-year-old daughter.

A Crimewatch reconstruction shortly after her death featured a distinctive tall man in a blue boiler suit who police wanted to trace.

The ‘villain’ was played by Steve, then aged 31, who lived 15 miles away from the murder scene and bore an uncanny resemblance to the police sketch of the wanted man.

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Crimewatch reconstruction

He is now waiting for the results of a DNA test to clear himself of the crime.

Steve said he was abused by confused locals who mistook him for the killer after the BBC programme was first shown.

But the original appeal was re-shown on Crimewatch last month after a breakthrough in the cold case with Steve’s part being replayed.

Two locals then rang police independently naming HIM as the killer - and a detective knocked on his door in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

The officer took a DNA sample from him as a 'potential suspect’ inside his home – and have yet to eliminate him from the investigation four weeks later.

Father-of-three Mr Watson said: 'As soon as I saw it back on TV I was filled with dread that I might be mistaken for him again.

Victim Julie Pacey

'I got a call from my daughter saying 'dad there’s a police officer at the door for you’ and my heart just sank.

'I asked the officer if I was a suspect and he said everybody was until they were ruled out.

'I haven’t heard anything yet - I guess I’m still a murder suspect.

'Yes I can see the laugh in it, but the serious side is there. If you’re going to do a reconstruction in a murder case, then be prepared for whatever comes.

'Until my DNA results are cleared I’m still in the frame.’

Steve was working in the entertainment section of a recruitment agency when he played the part of the wanted man, earning £690 for the two-day job.

He said he looked so much like the suspect that two witnesses also taking part in the filming were overcome with emotion when they saw him.

And when he visited the police station in costume with the TV crew one officer even attempted to apprehend him by mistake.

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