GUILTY UK - Melanie Road, 17, stabbed to death, Bath, 9 June 1984

[Redgoblin]

Bristol man charged with murder of Bath schoolgirl Melanie Road | Bath Chronicle
http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bris...h-schoolgirl/story-26833137-detail/story.html

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[Redgoblin]

Interesting name of the person they have in custody... I won't say anymore than that until more information comes out in the press or with some of the folks I know in Bath.

Good work by police in catching him even after all this time. I would imagine it's advances in DNA that's helped them catch him.

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[wfgodot]

Guardian:

Man to appear in Bath court over 30-year-old murder of Melanie Road

 

[wfgodot]

MoS on the matter:

Suspect, 63, is arrested for sex killing of 17-year-old Melanie Road after DNA breakthrough

 

[Redgoblin]

Thanks wfgodot..

I posted such links to the Melanie Hall thread by mistake.

This one is close to home... I'm interested in seeing who the man is. I hope there is a court artist at Bath Magistrates.

Is there a case thread for this case, I can't find it. I'm surprised because it was/is quite a well known case in the UK.



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[wfgodot]

Guardian:

Melanie Road stabbing: man to stand trial over 1984 murder
Christopher Hampton, 63, will stand trial in May next year for murder of 17-year-old stabbed to death in Bath in 1984 after a night out with friends

 

[OkieGranny]

From last month:

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Fishpo...uilty-murder/story-28406281-detail/story.html

Christopher John Hampton... appeared at Bristol Crown Court via video link wearing a black Nike sweater and thick glasses. The father-of-three only spoke to enter a not guilty plea.

A trial expected to last four weeks is scheduled to start on May 9 next year after further scientific evidence is gathered.

 

[ElemenohP]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Fishpo...ie-Road-Bath/story-29055602-detail/story.html

Christopher John Hampton, 63, will consider the scientific document next week - a month before he goes on trial for the 17-year-old's murder more than 30 years ago.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Mela...ey-arguments/story-29090063-detail/story.html

Melanie's family have been waiting for justice ever since the A-student's body was found in Bath more than 30 years ago.

The Bath High School student had been on a night out with friends at the now-closed Beau Nash nightclub in Kingston Road on Friday, June 8, 1984.

Her body was found early the following morning by a milkman and his young son close to a block of garages in nearby St Stephen's Court. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed repeatedly in the chest and back.

 

[Legally Bland]

Changed his plea to guilty:

Christopher Hampton, who changed his plea to guilty as his murder trial was due to begin at Bristol Crown Court, must serve a minimum term of 22 years.Hampton, 64, was caught in 2015 after police linked DNA from Melanie's clothing to his daughter.


She had been arrested aged 41 in 2014 for a "minor incident" and her DNA profile was taken, leading the police to her father.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-36245888

 

[0101ABA]

A killer who was jailed for the 1984 murder of Melanie Road is being investigated over a chillingly similar unsolved case, it has emerged.

Christopher Hampton was given a life sentence yesterday after he admitted raping 17-year-old A-level student Miss Road before knifing her to death after she left a Bath nightclub in 1984.

The circumstances mirror the fate of Melanie Hall, 25, who disappeared after leaving a Bath nightclub in 1996 – 12 years to the day from the murder of Miss Road.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ton-kill-woman-12-years-day-Melanie-Road.html

 

[Redgoblin]

I was correct in who I thought it was, shocking that I personally knew the family of the guilty party.



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[Redgoblin]

For those of you interested in this case. CBS Reality in the UK are doing a documentary due to air entitled, 'Uncovering Melanie's Murderer', on Monday August 29th at 22:00 hrs.

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[CastlesBurning]

The sidelined woman detective who solved a brutal cold case murder



It is nearly 40 years since the warm summer morning in June 1984 when Jean, then a 49-year-old teacher, and her civil servant husband Anthony woke to the realisation that their daughter — a sensible girl — had not returned home from a night out with friends at a local nightclub in Bath.

Amid their rising panic, they then heard an amplified voice in the street outside from a police Tannoy, asking 'does anyone know Melanie?'

 

[dotr]

Cross posting poss. related cases, and subscribing..

UK - UK- Jackie Waines,36,(AKA Linda Guest) SW, sexually assaulted, repeatedly stabbed, body found on bridlepath, Cotterell, Bristol, 22 April 1985

lengthy article rbbm. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/the-mystery-murdered-bristol-prostitute-1828 By Laura Churchill, 12 FEB 2017 ''The gruesome discovery of a prostitute's body lying half-naked in a pool of blood on a country footpath has led to a mystery that has baffled...

www.websleuths.com

By Martin FrickerSenior Reporter 14 Apr 2024

Fears murderer may have killed three more women, says ex-police detective

Painter and decorator Christopher Hampton was sentenced to 22-years in prison in 2016 for the 1984 murder of 17-year-old A Level student Melanie Road

www.mirror.co.uk

''Now Ms Mackay, a former Avon and Somerset DCI, is convinced he killed three more women in the South West of England in the 1980s. Shelley Morgan, 33, was found dead near Bristol two days after Melanie was murdered, as she walked home from a nightclub. Linda Guest, 35, was found dead in Frampton Cotterell, Glos, in 1985. Helen Fleet, 66, was killed in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in 1987''.

''All three had been sexually assaulted then stabbed multiple times. An unusual rosette pattern of stab wounds on Shelley were also found on Melanie. Ms MacKay, 55, tracked Hampton’s whereabouts during each of the murders, the Sunday Times reported.''

 

[dotr]

Matt Roper 04 Apr 2025 lengthy article.

Daughter unmasks dad as brutal killer solving baffling cold case 30 years on

The mutilated body of 17-year-old Melanie Road was found by a milkman and his ten-year-old son during his early morning delivery and sparked a nationwide manhunt, but her killer was only caught three decades later

www.mirror.co.uk

''This month marks the 30th anniversary of the national DNA database, the first database in the world to obtain genetic samples from crime scenes and individuals to help the police solve crimes. Today, the database contains the DNA of around 5.9 million Brits and has helped convict some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, most of whom thought they had gotten away with it after evading justice for years.''

'Attacked in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac, she had been stabbed 26 times through her clothing, which her murderer removed to rape her before redressing her.'

'A trail of blood led away from the scene, with analysis showing that the killer shared a blood group with just 3% of the population.'

''When, the following year, the DNA testing for Melanie’s killer was rerun, a familial match was found with the woman. Police contacted her and it emerged that her father, Christopher Hampton, was a painter and decorator from Bristol who had lived locally at the time of the murder.''

 

[tes1984]

Woman unmasks dad as killer as she solves cold case murder of teen 30 years on

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: The mutilated body of 17-year-old Melanie Road was found by a milkman and his 10-year-old son and sparked a nationwide manhunt, but her killer was only caught three decades later

www.dailystar.co.uk

New article about the murder of Melanie Road.

Strange that the police got 71 DNA swabs from the crime scene, yet they don't seem to have any swabs from the Linda Guest or Helen Fleet murders.

Julie Mackay has accused Hampton of these murders too, and like Melanie they were both found soon after they were killed.

 

[Rookie D]

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.