Hampton was an opportunist blitz attacker.
Quite how he wasn't apprehended sooner is frustrating as he was interviewed by police. At the time of the murder, Hampton was renting a flat with his partner on the same stretch of road that Melanie would have walked on her way home from the club.
It's almost certain that he would at some point observed Melanie walking home northwards up towards the Lansdown Hill area of Bath, just north of the city centre.
The upward gradient meant that the walk home heading up Lansdown would have been slightly less than the average speed, even for a 17 year old female.
This would have given Hampton time to follow her as she walked up the hill.
I get the impression from the known evidence, that Hampton took his rage out on Melanie partly because she had initially managed to fight back and fend him off.
It seems she was able to run from him, but was just yards short of reaching the safety of her home before Hampton was able to attack her again, only this time managing to subdue and murder her.
It would seem highly probable that Hampton had been a multiple offender, as his blitz style attack on Melanie was clearly not the work of someone who hadn't done it all before.
I remember the day Hampton was named in the press as the killer due to familial DNA from his daughter. At some point it was mentioned that at the time of the murder, he was renting a flat that lay directly on the route that Melanie would have taken to get from the club to her house, and my astonishment that the police didn't seem to have considered that any male who lived on that particular route should have automatically become a person of interest in the case.
it's clear that the killer had local knowledge and that Melanie had been followed at some point as she made her way up the Landsdown hill.
On that basis, Hampton should have been scrutinized more closely much earlier on in the case. Hampton was living on Melanie's route home, and that should have been enough to consider him further.
In all likelihood, Hampton has committed multiple offenses and almost certainly other murders of women.
You can tell by the look in his eyes.
