Murder of Melanie Hall

Murder of Melanie Hall
Melanie Hall

Melanie Hall
Born Summer 1970[1]
England, UK
Disappeared 9 June 1996(1996-06-09) (aged 25)
Bath, Somerset, UK
Body discovered 5 October 2009(2009-10-05)
Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, UK
Nationality British
Ethnicity White British
Alma mater University of Bath
Occupation Clerical officer
Employer Royal United Hospital
Known for Murder victim
Parents Steve and Patricia Hall

Melanie Hall (summer 1970 – c. 9 June 1996) was a British hospital clerical officer from Bradford on Avon, who went missing on 9 June 1996, following a night out at the 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 located by a workman on the M5 motorway near Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. The bones were analysed and identified as belonging to Melanie Hall on 7 October 2009. The bones included a pelvis, thigh bone and heavily fractured skull.

Contents

Background

Hall was described by her parents as a "young, vibrant daughter".[2] She had graduated from the University of Bath in 1995, Hall's mother, Pat Hall, said graduation had been a "cherished" dream of Melanie's for four years.[3] Melanie Hall worked as a clerical officer at Bath's Royal United Hospital.[2] For three weeks before her disappearance Hall had been dating a German doctor, Philip Karlbaum, whom she had met at the Hospital.[4]

Disappearance

Hall had arranged to stay with her boyfriend Karlbaum on 8 June and her mother dropped her off at his home.[5] On the night of 8 June 1996 Hall went to Cadillacs nightclub in Bath with Karlbaum and another couple.[4] 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.[2] Hall was last seen sitting on a stool in the club at around 1.10am on 9 June 1996.[6][7] She was reported missing on 11 June 1996 by her parents after she failed to turn up for work.[5]

Karlbaum described his devastation at her disappearance on 17 June 1996.[6][7] Avon and Somerset police launched several searches of the River Avon after her disappearance and interviewed thousands of clubbers and taxi drivers in an operation involving 60 officers.[4] A £10,000 reward was offered for information,[8] the BBC show Crimewatch and Crimestoppers both made appeals to the public for information,[4] as did Hall's sister Dominique,[9] but no trace of Hall was found.[4]

Hall was declared legally dead on 17 November 2004.[10]

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.[4] 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 Mr and Mrs Hall, who confirmed that it had belonged to their daughter.[11] Despite this police refused to confirm that the body was that of Miss Hall until a post-mortem had been carried out.[12] The remains were formally identified as being Hall's through dental records on 7 October.[2][7] She had suffered fractures to her skull and face.[13] Hall's parents launched a fresh appeal on 8 October for anyone with information to come forward,[2] while Avon and Somerset CID DS Mike Britton stated that he was staying on after his retirement to continue working on the Hall disappearance, having spent 13 years on the case.[14] On the 29 October 2009 police announced that three keys to a Ford car, possibly a Transit, Fiesta or Escort had been found near the body, and that they were working with Ford to try and identify the vehicle. Crimewatch 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.[15]

Arrests

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, Somerset.[16][17] In 2009, a 37-year-old man confessed his involvement in Hall's murder to police in Greater Manchester, but was eliminated from the inquiry after undergoing psychiatric tests.[16][18] In July 2010, a 38-year-old man from Bath was arrested on suspicion of Hall's murder and subsequently released on bail.[19][1] In August 2010 a 39-year-old man from Wiltshire was arrested by police on suspicion of murder after handing himself in at a police station in the Avon and Somerset area.[17] The man was subsequently released on bail.[20]

Links to other cases

Police have not ruled out links with the murder of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh (who disappeared in July 1986 and whose body has never been found) and the case of a serial sex attacker in Bath, nicknamed the "Batman rapist" after he left a baseball cap bearing a Batman logo at the scene of one attack.[21][22] The unknown assailant is known to have attempted to carjack 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.[23][24] The case has also been compared with the 2010 murder of Joanna Yeates in Bristol.[25][26] Police have admitted there were similarities with the cases of Yeates and Claudia Lawrence, another blonde British woman who disappeared in 2009, but said that they have not yet found direct evidence to link them.[27]In spring of 2011, police investigating the murders of Sian O'Callaghan and Becky Godden-Edwards (whose bodies were both found in Wiltshire) also began to look for a possible link between those murders and that of Melanie Hall.[28]

Popular culture

While living in Bath, singer/songwriter Peter Hammill (also with Van der Graaf Generator) had the idea for a song, later released on his album Thin Air (2009), called "Your Face on the Street" inspired by the disappearance of Melanie Hall. Some of the lyrics of the song were written at the time of the disappearance, and when the album came out, the discovery had yet to be made.[29]

See also

  • List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom

References

  1. ^ a b "Melanie murder: man, 38, arrested". Bristol Evening Post. 2 July 2010. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Melanie-murder-man-38-arrested/article-2370996-detail/article.html. Retrieved 26 December 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "Woman's bones left 'like garbage'". BBC. 8 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8296600.stm. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  3. ^ "Family's years of heartache". Bath: The Bath Chronicle. 8 October 2009. http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Family-s-years-heartache/article-1402672-detail/article.html. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Loveys, Kate; Salkeld, Luke; Wilkes, David (8 October 2009). "Dumped like a sack of garbage: Hall's parents speak of 'untold anguish' after motorway bones find". London: Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218842/Bag-bones-motorway-nightclubber-Melanie-Hall-went-missing-13-years-ago.html. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  5. ^ a b "Melanie Hall: A mystery which has baffled police". Bristol: Bristol Evening Post. 8 October 2009. http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Melanie-Hall-mystery-baffled-police/article-1400117-detail/article.html. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  6. ^ a b "Melanie Hall: timeline". London: Telegraph. 8 Oct 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6270860/Melanie-Hall-timeline.html. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  7. ^ a b c "Timeline: Melanie Hall disappearance". BBC. 7 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8295701.stm. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  8. ^ "Melanie Hall: the background". BBC. 14 March 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2842645.stm. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  9. ^ "Sister of Melanie Hall appeals for help from public". London: The Independent. 19 June 1996. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sister-of-melanie-hall-appeals-for-help-from-public-1337759.html. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  10. ^ Savill, Richard (18 November 2004). "Melanie declared dead 8 years after vanishing from nightclub". Daily Telegraph (London): p. 11. 
  11. ^ "Jewellery 'key' in M5 bones case". BBC. 8 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8296122.stm. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  12. ^ "Police refuse to confirm bones link to missing Melanie". Bristol247. 7 Oct 2009. http://www.bristol247.com/2009/10/07/police-refuse-to-confirm-bones-link-to-missing-melanie/. Retrieved 8 October 2009. 
  13. ^ Morris, Steven (13 October 2009). "Melanie Hall suffered fractured skull". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/13/melanie-hall-fractured-skull-rope. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  14. ^ "CID man holds retirement for case". BBC News. 24 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8323755.stm. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  15. ^ "Hundreds contact M5 murder police". BBC. 29 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8331294.stm. Retrieved 29 October 2009. 
  16. ^ a b Collins, Nick (31 August 2010). "Second man arrested over Melanie Hall murder". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7974166/Second-man-arrested-over-Melanie-Hall-murder.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  17. ^ a b Morris, Steven (1 September 2010). "Man held in Melanie Hall murder inquiry". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/01/melanie-hall-murder-inquiry-arrest. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  18. ^ Naughton, Philippe (9 October 2009). "Arrest in Melanie Hall murder was false alarm, but DNA hope remains". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6867555.ece. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  19. ^ "Man held over Melanie Hall M5 murder inquiry". BBC News. 1 July 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10478248. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  20. ^ "Melanie Hall murder police release Wiltshire man". BBC News (Bristol). 1 September 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11157452. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  21. ^ Grierson, Jamie (6 April 2010). "Fresh police plea in Melanie Hall murder probe". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/fresh-police-plea-in-melanie-hall-murder-probe-1937162.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  22. ^ Steele, John (27 October 2000). "Leaflets sent to 25,000 homes in rape inquiry". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1372014/Leaflets-sent-to-25000-homes-in-rape-inquiry.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  23. ^ Edmondson, Ian (14 February 1999). "Riddler rapist's evil game of cap and mouse". News of the World (London): p. 42. 
  24. ^ Young, Sydney (12 June 1996). "Please find my perfect daughter". Daily Mirror (London): p. 8. 
  25. ^ Owens, Nick (26 December 2010). "Missing Joanna Yeates: Similarities to Melanie murder are frightening". Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/12/26/missing-joanna-yeates-similarities-to-melanie-murder-are-frightening-115875-22807978/. Retrieved 26 December 2010. 
  26. ^ Leach, Ben; Howie, Michael; Harrison, David (26 December 2010). "Parents of missing architect Joanna Yeates: 'we knew she had been abducted'". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/8225193/Parents-of-missing-architect-Joanna-Yeates-we-knew-she-had-been-abducted.html. Retrieved 27 December 2010. 
  27. ^ "Police searching for missing architect Jo Yeates discover a woman's body close to golf course". Daily Mail. 25 December 2010. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341520/Missing-architect-Jo-Yeates-Police-womans-body.html. Retrieved 26 December 2010. 
  28. ^ Salkeld, Luke; Kisiel, Ryan; Cohen (6 April 2011). "Tragic life of second girl found in Sian O'Callaghan murder probe". Mail Online (Associated Newspapers Ltd). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373610/Sian-OCallaghan-murder-detectives-identify-human-remains-Becky-Godden.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Retrieved 9 April 2011. 
  29. ^ "Sofa Sound - Newsletters". www.sofasound.com. http://www.sofasound.com/nljan10.htm. Retrieved 07 April 2011. 

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