UK UK - Melanie Hall, 25, Bath, Somerset, 9 June 1996

[rvlvr]

We can’t even rule out that the killer(s) happened to pull in there because they were lost or had some sort of issue with their vehicle, and while there had the realisation that dumping the body there might be as good a place as anywhere.

I’m guessing any footage from the camera was displayed on a wall alongside footage from other cameras, similar to this, and depending on the time of day that the body was disposed of (nighttime seems likely, imo) it probably wasn’t being monitored particularly closely.

 

[Deadbeat]

Sorry if I’ve missed something here but what’s to say that PK didn’t return to the club after leaving and brooding in his car initially? If he was really that jealous and angry, it’s hard to believe he’d just drive home and leave MH with another man.

The police have ruled him out and I guess they’re the experts but I’m wondering if it’s possible that he returned to the club OR waited around for her to leave and then drove her back to his. The witness sightings of a blonde in the club reception area could easily be someone else.

 

[tes1984]

The police have ruled him out and I guess they’re the experts but I’m wondering if it’s possible that he returned to the club OR waited around for her to leave and then drove her back to his. The witness sightings of a blonde in the club reception area could easily be someone else.

The police examined the CCTV in Bath (the footage from the Saturday to the Tuesday) and it seems like PK was seen leaving the area by car at the 'right' time.

He would have had an extremely small window of opportunity to park up and return to the club before Melanie's friends left. He would also have to avoid being caught on CCTV when he returned to the club, and again when he returned home with Melanie.

He would also have to avoid being seen by witnesses. There are some intriguing potential sightings though (the club reception witness, the couple seen arguing, the woman seen being coerced to the carpark).

There's also the possibility that PK returned home, and Melanie left the club and walked back to his place. She clearly wasn't spotted on foot on CCTV though. There were a couple of potential sightings of her in central Bath, although they don't seem to have lead anywhere.

 

[tes1984]

In further defence of PK, the police examined his car and property, without finding anything suspicious.

AFAIK he didn't have any relatives or a best friend type to help him conceal a murder; or any links to the white VW car of interest.

He didn't book a flight and flee the UK before Melanie was reported missing. He did eventually return to Germany, but came back voluntarily to Bath. He wasn't extradited or anything like that.

AFAIK he still lives in the UK. He didn't relocate somewhere out of reach of the British police. As a qualified doctor, he could have gained residency in a country with no extradition to the UK.

 

[Deadbeat]

Thanks for the detailed responses. From the information available and CCTV analysis, it would certainly appear as though PK left the club and did not return, whilst MH was still in there. It just seems logical to think that the couple seen arguing and her being coerced into a car could be MH & PK, after him getting jealous at what he’d seen. Clearly the police have thoroughly examined this theory and proven otherwise though.

 

[tes1984]

Thanks for the detailed responses. From the information available and CCTV analysis, it would certainly appear as though PK left the club and did not return, whilst MH was still in there. It just seems logical to think that the couple seen arguing and her being coerced into a car could be MH & PK, after him getting jealous at what he’d seen. Clearly the police have thoroughly examined this theory and proven otherwise though.

In theory it would have been possible for him to have avoided the limited CCTV in Bath. Melanie must have left the area but wasn't spotted on camera, so who knows?

The sightings could have been MH and PK, or MH and an unknown male, but they could also have been a random couple or two. There might have been quite a few drunken couples arguing it out at 2am in a busy town centre. There was certainly an attempted abduction very nearby a few hours earlier, which the police don't seem to consider linked to MH, or to the notorious Batman rapist who was active in Bath in 1996.

I think there have been 11 men arrested, but nothing has stuck, so the police seem to have been mistaken about quite a few things so far.

 

[tes1984]

IIRC A&S police have arrested ten male suspects, plus one male false confessor.

They have interviewed at least half a dozen known murderers and rapists, and have also carried out at least half a dozen searches.

It's been an extensive investigation, with the thirty year anniversary approaching and I hope new witnesses or DNA advances will emerge in the next year or so.

 

[SteveH]

In further defence of PK, the police examined his car and property, without finding anything suspicious.

AFAIK he didn't have any relatives or a best friend type to help him conceal a murder; or any links to the white VW car of interest.

He didn't book a flight and flee the UK before Melanie was reported missing. He did eventually return to Germany, but came back voluntarily to Bath. He wasn't extradited or anything like that.

AFAIK he still lives in the UK. He didn't relocate somewhere out of reach of the British police. As a qualified doctor, he could have gained residency in a country with no extradition to the UK.

PK is a GP in Cheltenham - "I have been with the practice since 2004 and I am the senior GP partner. I speak fluent German."

He obviously likes spa towns in the south west of England!

 

[Eastend Eagle]

Do the nightclub staff recollect what happened to MH?

 

[tes1984]

Who knows what the police learned after conducting interviews with the nightclub staff?

It's strange that the police and Melanie's family seem to think the perp was someone she knew, yet nobody in the club seems to recognise the man with the flashy watch as a local.

 

[Konstantin]

Who knows what the police learned after conducting interviews with the nightclub staff?

It's strange that the police and Melanie's family seem to think the perp was someone she knew, yet nobody in the club seems to recognise the man with the flashy watch as a local.

Maybe they think she would just never have got into a car with someone she didn't know?

But it was a club, she had been drinking and maybe she had taken something that reacted badly with her and made her behave in ways she would not normally do. We just don't know.

 

[rvlvr]

I suppose it’s possible she parted ways with the guy in the club, that the sighting of a man and woman in the street was of a different couple, and that Melanie walked away from the city - could she have made it to the Dr’s home on foot from there, or her parents’ house? Perhaps she was abducted on a quiet street or maybe accepted a lift from someone she knew? I imagine she was quite a popular, sociable woman with a pretty big circle of people who knew her, from school through uni and then the hospital .

 

[tes1984]

The police definitely looked at the idea of a stranger abduction (searching the former taxi office, questioning the likes of Shillibier and Christopher Clark etc).

Melanie isn't depicted as drunk or on drugs in the Crimewatch reconstruction. She has a friendly/normal conversation with her friends when they leave. The main witness thinks he sees Melanie chatting with a guy in the reception, but doesn't recall her appearing drunk, manic, emotional etc etc.

 

[tes1984]

I can't imagine Melanie attempting to walk back to her parents' house. The house was over 7 miles away, and there don't seem to have been any potential sightings of her outside central Bath.

 

[rvlvr]

You wonder if Jenny King’s murderer hadn’t been caught, would we be linking the two cases? Just as car keys were found at the site where Melanie’s body was discarded, Jenny’s killer Paul Hunt dropped house keys in the undergrowth in Bristol where her body was found. No doubt the papers could find someone to explain that this was a hallmark, a ‘sick taunt’ from a serial killer to the cops.

There’s a degree of similarity to the Melanie Road case too, in that Jenny was given money for a taxi by her brother but instead chose to walk.

The judge in Hunt’s case said:

"I … suspect the reason you got close enough to make sexual advances to her was because she recognised you as someone from her childhood, someone she trusted."

Life for obscene caller who turned killer

A factory worker with a previous caution for indecent exposure made 80 threatening phone calls to women on the night he murdered a secretary, police disclosed yesterday.

www.theguardian.com

I can see why MH’s family might think something similar happened to her.

 

[tes1984]

There are quite a few similarities with the Jenny King murder, and Melanie's parents reached out to Jenny's parents during the early investigation.

Paul Hunt, who murdered Jenny, seems to have been far less organised than whoever murdered Melanie though. He's been in prison for 27 years now, so I wonder if he's been up for parole. Possibly not yet, as I don't think he's ever admitted guilt.

Another similar Bristol murder was Louise Smith, who was killed in 1995 after leaving a nightclub. Her killer, David Frost, was convicted in 1998. He admitted his guilt so may have been released by now. AFAIK Frost had already left the UK in June 1996 when Melanie disappeared. He eventually returned to the UK to face justice after a joint UK and South African police investigation. He didn't know Louise, and followed her home after loitering outside the nightclub.

 

[rvlvr]

I was trying to find out earlier if Hunt was still in prison, so thanks for that.

Yeah, I think it’s very likely Frost is out? According to this article he received a minimum term of 14 years, if he kept his nose clean he could’ve been released as far back as 2011:

What happened next

Robert Smith's daughter disappeared after leaving a nightclub on her own on Christmas Eve. Robert and his wife have since received MBEs for their work on DNA collection.

www.theguardian.com

 

[tes1984]

It seems that last year David Frost was hoping to move back to his home town, but locals objected as a lot of Louise Smith's family and friends still live there.

 

[SteveH]

It seems that last year David Frost was hoping to move back to his home town, but locals objected as a lot of Louise Smith's family and friends still live there.

This clip from a longer programme examines the case. It features Jill Dando's brother Nigel and one of the cops mentions at the end that Frost had been freed. See also the comments on the video:

I can't see anyone being able to stop him returning. Yate - where the nightclub Spirals was situated - is the home town of both JK Rowling and Robin Gunningham (aka Banksy). The best thing that could be said about the place is that it is close to the Sodburys - Old, Little and Chipping - and the southern Cotswolds.

The bit in the video showing Bristol Crown Court brought back some unpleasant memories of my appearance there - even if I was only doing jury service!

Another case involving a South Africa/Bristol connection was the Anni Dewani killing whilst she was on honeymoon with new husband Shrien. Of course many still think Shrien hired a hitman.

"In 2018, Shrien Dewani went public with his romance with male lover Brazilian-born photographer Gledison Lopez Martins. The couple travelled to India, where Shrien had married Anni years before."

13 Years later: Where is 'wife killer' Shrien Dewani now?

While Anni Dewani's life tragically ended 13 years ago, the man allegedly behind her murder - Shrien Dewani - lives in the lap of luxury.

www.thesouthafrican.com

As for Melanie Hall I have walked along the canal/river from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath but I wouldn't want to do it in the early hours of the morning. If the doctor lived in or near the hospital that walk would be feasible - about 2km. The stretch of the road north of Royal Victoria Park would be a bit desolate at night however.