![Bath, St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Bath%2C_St._Michael%27s_Church_House_%28geograph_4377471%29.jpg)
Melanie Hall (20 August 1970 – disappeared 9 June 1996;
declared legally dead 17 November 2004
) was a British hospital clerical officer from
Bradford on Avon
Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...
, who disappeared on 9 June 1996, following a night out at Cadillacs nightclub in
Bath. It was not until 5 October 2009 that her partial remains were discovered, after a plastic bin bag containing human bones was found by a workman on the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
near
Thornbury,
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...
. The bones, which included a
pelvis
The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton).
The ...
,
thigh bone
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...
and
skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
, were analysed and identified as belonging to Melanie Hall on 7 October 2009. It was determined that Hall had suffered severe fractures to her skull and face, and had been tied up with rope, although a definitive cause of death could not be established.
Over the years, various people have been arrested, but subsequently released.
Background
Hall was described by her parents as a "young, vibrant daughter".
She had graduated from the
University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
in 1995 with a degree in nursing; Hall's mother, Pat Hall, said graduation had been a "cherished" dream of Melanie's for four years.
Melanie Hall worked as a clerical officer at Bath's
Royal United Hospital
The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major accident and emergenc ...
.
Her father, Stephen Hall, has served
Bath City Football Club as a chairman.
Disappearance
![Walcot St Bath](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Walcot_St_Bath.jpg)
Hall had arranged to stay with her boyfriend Philip Karlbaum on 8 June and her mother dropped her off at his home.
On the night of 8 June 1996 Hall went to Cadillacs nightclub in Bath with Karlbaum and another couple. Hall was reported as having had an argument with Karlbaum, and he left the club "upset" after he allegedly saw her dancing with another man.
Hall was last seen sitting on a stool in the club at around 1:10 am on 9 June 1996.
She was reported missing on 11 June 1996 by her parents after she failed to turn up for work.
Karlbaum described his devastation at her disappearance on 17 June 1996.
Avon and Somerset police
Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and So ...
launched several searches of the
River Avon after her disappearance and interviewed thousands of clubbers and taxi drivers. A
£10,000 reward was offered for information,
and the BBC show ''
Crimewatch
''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...
'' and ''
Crimestoppers
Crime Stoppers or Crimestoppers is a community program that helps people to provide anonymous information about criminal activity. Often managed by non-profit groups or the police, it operates separately from the emergency telephone number sy ...
'' both made appeals to the public for information, as did Hall's sister Dominique, but no trace of Hall was found.
Hall was
declared legally dead on 17 November 2004.
Discovery of remains
On 5 October 2009, a motorway worker found a plastic bin bag containing bones while he was clearing a vegetation patch on a slip road at Junction 14 of the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
. The bones in the bag included a skull, pelvis and thigh bone and further remains were found buried and spread around the field by the side of the motorway. Police confirmed that the remains were human, and they showed a piece of jewellery found at the site to Hall's parents, who confirmed that it had belonged to their daughter.
Despite this, police refused to confirm that the body was that of Hall until a post-mortem had been carried out.
The remains were formally identified as being Hall's through dental records on 7 October.
She had incurred severe blunt trauma to her head resulting in a fractured skull, cheekbone and jaw. Hall had also been tied up with a blue rope.
Hall's parents launched a fresh appeal on 8 October for anyone with information to come forward,
while Avon and Somerset CID DS Mike Britton stated that he was staying on after his retirement to continue working on the Hall disappearance, codenamed Operation Denmark, having spent 13 years on the case. On 29 October 2009, police announced that three keys to a
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
vehicle, possibly a
Transit
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
,
Fiesta or
Escort, had been found near the body, and that they were working with Ford to try to identify the vehicle. ''
Crimewatch
''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...
'' also launched a fresh appeal for information, which resulted in more than 200 phone calls from the public. The reward for information leading to arrest was also increased to £20,000.
In October 2019, police revealed they had obtained a partial DNA profile from the rope wrapped around the bag containing Hall's remains and stated that they remained confident that Hall's killer would be caught. Her parents reinstated a £50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Arrests
![Entrance to The Podium short stay car park, Bath (geograph 3739538)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Entrance_to_The_Podium_short_stay_car_park%2C_Bath_%28geograph_3739538%29.jpg)
In 1998, the suspected killer of
Suzy Lamplugh
Suzy may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Suzy'' (film), a 1936 film starring Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone and Cary Grant
* "Suzy" (Fool's Garden song), a song by German pop band Fool's Garden
* "Suzy", a song by French electro swing band Ca ...
,
John Cannan
John David Guise Cannan (born 20 February 1954) is a British murderer, serial rapist, serial abductor and suspected serial killer. A former car salesman, Cannan was convicted in July 1988 of murder and multiple sexual offences, abductions and ...
, was questioned over the murder. Known for his Bristol connections, Cannan was spoken to by police after allegations came to light that he had plotted the murder of Hall from his prison cell at
HM Prison Durham
HM Prison Durham is a Georgian era reception Category B men's prison, located in the Elvet area of Durham in County Durham, England. Built in 1819, the prison continues to be operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Women prisoners were mov ...
. Detectives investigated claims from sources that said that Cannan had spent many hours planning what he described as the "perfect" abduction with a fellow inmate. The other inmate was a convicted rapist who supposedly put the plan into action after being released from prison. Inexplicably, although Cannan was in prison at the time of Hall's abduction and murder, some witnesses came forward to say they were certain that Cannan was the man they had seen abducting Hall that night. Hall's parents said that they feared if Cannan was responsible for their daughter's death they would never know the truth of what happened to her, as Cannan was infamous for tactically withholding information about victims in order to maintain a sense of control over investigators.
In 2003, police arrested two men in connection with Hall's disappearance but they were released without charge after police searched buildings and a field near Bath.
In 2009, a 37-year-old man confessed his involvement in Hall's murder to police in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
, but was eliminated from the inquiry after undergoing
psychiatric tests.
In July 2010, a 38-year-old man from Bath was arrested on suspicion of Hall's murder and subsequently released on
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
.
In August 2010, a 39-year-old man from
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
was arrested by police on suspicion of murder after handing himself in at a police station in the
Avon and Somerset area.
The man was subsequently released on bail.
In October 2013, police said that they had found a white
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...
car connected to their inquiries, and had received relevant information about the rope used to tie up Hall's body. On 25 November 2013, it was reported that a 44-year-old man had been arrested at an address in Bath, on suspicion of murder. The man was released on bail until 19 December, and a property at Roundhill Park,
Whiteway, was searched.
On 28 November 2014 it was reported that there was insufficient evidence to charge the suspect. On 23 June 2016, a 45-year-old man was arrested following retrieval of DNA from where Hall's remains were discovered, and released on bail a few days later.
By October 2019, eleven arrests had been made during the police investigation but no one has ever been charged.
Links to other cases
Police have yet to rule out the suggested links to
John Cannan
John David Guise Cannan (born 20 February 1954) is a British murderer, serial rapist, serial abductor and suspected serial killer. A former car salesman, Cannan was convicted in July 1988 of murder and multiple sexual offences, abductions and ...
and the murder of estate agent
Suzy Lamplugh
Suzy may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Suzy'' (film), a 1936 film starring Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone and Cary Grant
* "Suzy" (Fool's Garden song), a song by German pop band Fool's Garden
* "Suzy", a song by French electro swing band Ca ...
(who disappeared in July 1986 and whose body has never been found). They have also not ruled out links to the case of a serial sex attacker in Bath, nicknamed the "
Batman rapist
The Batman rapist is an unidentified English serial sex offender who committed at least seventeen sexual assaults on women in the city of Bath, Somerset, between 1991 and 2000. He is the subject of Britain's longest–running serial rape investi ...
" after he left a baseball cap bearing a ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'' logo at the scene of one attack. The unknown assailant is known to have attempted to
carjack
Carjacking is a robbery in which the item taken over is a motor vehicle.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is ...
a woman at knifepoint, leaving her wounded when she fought back and managed to escape, in the same area of the city a few hours before Hall was abducted. It has also been suggested that there may be a link between Hall's murder and
Levi Bellfield
Levi Bellfield (born Levi Rabbetts; 17 May 1968) is an English serial killer, sex offender, rapist, kidnapper, and burglar. He was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murd ...
, who is serving life imprisonment with a
whole life order
In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a jud ...
for three murders committed between 2002 and 2004.
A suggested link with convicted killer Christoper Halliwell, who is serving a life sentence with a whole life order for the murders of
Sian O'Callaghan Sian or Siyan may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
*Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name
Places
*Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran
*Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia
*Xi'an, China, formerly roman ...
and Becky Godden-Edwards, has been ruled out by Avon and Somerset Police.
See also
*
List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who di ...
*
List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom
This is an incomplete list of unsolved known and presumed murders in the United Kingdom. It does not include any of the 3,000 or so murders that took place in Northern Ireland due to the Troubles and remain unsolved. Victims believed or known t ...
*
Murder of Marie Wilks
Marie Wilks (1965 or 1966 – 18 June 1988) was a 22-year-old seven-months-pregnant woman who, in high-profile circumstances, was abducted from the hard shoulder of the M50 motorway and murdered on 18 June 1988. Her body was found two days lat ...
– case in which a woman was found dead by the nearby
M50 motorway in 1988
*
Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh
Susannah Jane Lamplugh (; born 3 May 1961) was a British estate agent reported missing on 28 July 1986 (aged 25) in Fulham, London, England, United Kingdom. She was officially declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. The last clue to Lamplugh' ...
– woman believed to have been killed by
John Cannan
John David Guise Cannan (born 20 February 1954) is a British murderer, serial rapist, serial abductor and suspected serial killer. A former car salesman, Cannan was convicted in July 1988 of murder and multiple sexual offences, abductions and ...
who has been linked to Hall's murder
*
Murder of Lindsay Rimer
Lindsay Jo Rimer (17 February 1981 – ''ca.''7 November 1994) was a thirteen-year-old British girl from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, who was murdered. She was last seen alive buying cornflakes at a SPAR shop on Crown Street in Hebden Bridg ...
– unsolved 1994 case of a British girl who disappeared and was found a year later in a nearby canal
Other UK unsolved murders where there is DNA evidence:
*
Murder of Deborah Linsley
On the afternoon of 23 March 1988, Deborah Linsley was murdered on a train between Petts Wood and London Victoria stations in Greater London. Although there were about 70 people on the train, and Linsley apparently fought and injured her attac ...
*
Murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon
Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon were murdered in separate, sexually motivated attacks during 1975 in London, England. Stratford (28 December 1953 – 18 March 1975) was a bunny girl and model. Weedon (11 November 1958 – 10 Septembe ...
*
Murders of Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Mayo
Jacqueline Susan Ansell-Lamb (21 September 1951 – 14 March 1970) and Barbara Janet Mayo (20 March 1946 – 12 October 1970) were two young women who were murdered in separate incidents in 1970. Both women were last seen hitch-hiking a ...
*
Murder of Lyn Bryant
*
Murder of Janet Brown
Janet Brown (27 January 1944 – 10 April 1995) was an English nurse who was murdered by an intruder in her house in Radnage, Buckinghamshire in 1995. The case remains unsolved, and the investigation remains open. Links have also been suggested b ...
*
Murder of Linda Cook
The murder of Linda Cook was committed in Portsmouth on 9 December 1986. The subsequent trial led to a miscarriage of justice when Michael Shirley, an 18-year-old Royal Navy sailor, was wrongly convicted of the crime and sentenced to life impriso ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Timeline: Melanie Hall disappearancefrom
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Melanie
1990s missing person cases
1996 in England
1996 murders in the United Kingdom
2009 in England
Crime in Gloucestershire
Crime in Somerset
Deaths by person in England
Female murder victims
Formerly missing people
June 1996 crimes
June 1996 events in the United Kingdom
Missing person cases in England
Unsolved murders in England
Violence against women in England