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

[Professor Moriarty]

“We believe there’s a strong possibility Melanie left the nightclub with her killer, as a coat she’d checked into a cloakroom was collected, but she could have met them outside or got into a car.''

What is the connection between collecting her coat and leaving with her killer? Surely, she wouldn't leave her coat behind whether she left with her killer or not?

 

[tes1984]

You needed a ticket (which was usually £1) to get your coat back when you left a 90s club. Interesting if Melanie and her boyfriend both kept hold of their own tickets, rather than keeping them both together in his wallet or her purse.

Also interesting that the reward is now 20k. IIRC at one stage it was 100k, with Melanie's parents putting up 50k, and a newspaper the other 50k. I wonder why the amount has been reduced.

 

[Rookie D]

Interesting how Melanie Hall's father refers to his daughter's killers.

As in PLURAL.

That means he believes that more than one person was involved.

 

[tes1984]

Interesting how Melanie Hall's father refers to his daughter's killers.

As in PLURAL.

That means he believes that more than one person was involved.

The police and Steve Hall have both mentioned the possibility of two perps in the past.

It's quite interesting that the police are keeping an open mind about when Melanie was taken to Thornbury. In the past, they've always said it was very soon after she disappeared.

If Melanie was kept somewhere for an extended period of time, then it must have been someone with enough privacy and space to conceal a victim or body, without others noticing.

 

[Rookie D]

The police and Steve Hall have both mentioned the possibility of two perps in the past.

It's quite interesting that the police are keeping an open mind about when Melanie was taken to Thornbury. In the past, they've always said it was very soon after she disappeared.

If Melanie was kept somewhere for an extended period of time, then it must have been someone with enough privacy and space to conceal a victim or body, without others noticing.

Like tied up on a barge or canal boat on the canal for example.

 

[tes1984]

Like tied up on a barge or canal boat on the canal for example.

Possibly, but more likely a house or even a van IMO. The searches so far have involved houses and commercial property in Bath, and a rural area near a farm outside Bath.

 

[tes1984]

IIRC this case has been a live enquiry since 1996. There's always been at least one detective on the case.

I'm very surprised that it's taken this long to digitise the case files. The Byford report into the failings in the Yorkshire Ripper case was almost 15 years earlier, and advised police incident rooms to move away from paper files.

 

[Deadbeat]

Apologies if this HAS already been posted but I couldn’t find it during a quick browse of the thread. This article is from January and details how the police are using ‘advancements in AI’ and ‘digitising the contents of 90 crates of evidence so they can analyse it with the latest technology’.

It also contains grim photos of one of the bin liners Melanie’s remains were wrapped in and the rope they were tied with (courtesy of Avon and Somerset Constabulary).

Major update after woman vanished from nightclub then body found years later

Detectives could employ digital tools in a "root and branch" review of the 1996 unsolved murder of the 25-year-old as they focus on less than 20 potential suspects

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[tes1984]

The latest appeal from A&S Police doesn't show, or even mention the composite sketch of the man possibly seen with Melanie, so perhaps the police are no longer following that line of enquiry.

In the Shelley Morgan case, A&SP spent a long time appealing for information about two postcards but then, after years of silence, announced that they no longer thought the postcards were relevant to the investigation.

 

[tes1984]

It may no longer be relevant, but in one of the Crimewatch appeals, former DCI Riccio mentions that two witnesses saw the suntanned man. One of them was the man who featured in the Channel five documentary. I'm not sure if the other witness was Melanie's boyfriend, or the friend who saw Melanie in the club at 1.10am, or someone else entirely.

The police focus now seems to be on the couple seen arguing between 1.45pm and 2pm in Old Orchard, around the corner from the nightclub entrance.

 

[dotr]

12 Oct 2020

New focus for investigation into the murder of Melanie Hall

It has been 24 years since Melanie Hall disappeared in Bath

www.somersetlive.co.uk

'What's more, police have re-issued an E-fit to identify a man who two witnesses said they saw with a woman, matching Melanie’s description, inside Cadillacs nightclub'.

He’s described as being white, 27 years old, 5ft 10ins, of medium build with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, bushy eyebrows and clean shaven.

He was wearing black trousers, black shoes and a brown silk shirt. It’s possible he had a gold hooped earring in his right ear and wore a flashy gold watch.
Do you recognise this man?''

Police have re-issued an E-fit of a man they would like to identify in relation to Melanie's disappearance (Image: Avon and Somerset Police)

 

[dotr]

Is the cross-eyed look intentional? speculation.
Jan., 24, 2026 rbbm

Police launch cold case probe into unsolved murder of Melanie Hall, 25

Melanie, a 25-year-old clerical worker, was last seen with an unidentified man at Cadillacs nightclub in Bath, on June 9, 1996, at about 1.10am. Her remains were not found until October 5, 2009.

www.dailymail.co.uk

''Detectives at Avon and Somerset Police announced this week that have launched Operation Denmark, a fresh investigation into the unsolved murder. They remain hopeful Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology could help provide answers for the young woman's devastated family.''

''The force previously trialled AI in 2024 to review evidential material in 27 complex cases - with answers that would have taken detectives 81 years to solve provided within just 30 hours instead.

Known as Söze, the tool helps detectives save time as well as analyse information in a more abstract way. For example, they can ask the system to show them any links between two suspects.

It can also uncover insights and relationships that were not already possible, by categorizing objects, people, anomalies and patterns far faster than any human can.''

 

[Jenesaisquoi]

The latest appeal from A&S Police doesn't show, or even mention the composite sketch of the man possibly seen with Melanie, so perhaps the police are no longer following that line of enquiry.

In the Shelley Morgan case, A&SP spent a long time appealing for information about two postcards but then, after years of silence, announced that they no longer thought the postcards were relevant to the investigation.

They were doing stuff behind the scenes with the post cards though. I emailed them a couple of times about them

 

[Deadbeat]

Apologies if this HAS already been posted but I couldn’t find it during a quick browse of the thread. This article is from January and details how the police are using ‘advancements in AI’ and ‘digitising the contents of 90 crates of evidence so they can analyse it with the latest technology’.

It also contains grim photos of one of the bin liners Melanie’s remains were wrapped in and the rope they were tied with (courtesy of Avon and Somerset Constabulary).

Major update after woman vanished from nightclub then body found years later

Detectives could employ digital tools in a "root and branch" review of the 1996 unsolved murder of the 25-year-old as they focus on less than 20 potential suspects

www.mirror.co.uk

According to this the police are now focussing on LESS than 20 potential suspects. I’m assuming none of which match the PARTIAL DNA profile they have from the rope though, otherwise surely an arrest would have already been made? Also could the DNA on the rope be from someone not even related to the case who had handled the rope at an earlier time?

 

[tes1984]

AFAIK the DNA is from the rope, so could potentially be from someone not related to the murder.

It's a partial profile, so can be used to rule out some suspects, but can't be matched to any one individual.