Strange Stories UK: Melanie Hall, Bath unsolved murder 30 years on.

I wanted to post this podcast on the 30th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Melanie Hall on 9 June 1996. I know Bath well having lived there during the 1980s. This is the story of Melanie Hall's disappearance and murder. The police have the case open and are asking for help in solving the crime.

Told in one take without editing with all the usual faults.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello Strange Stories UK here again. Well I only posted a pod a couple of days ago as I'd forgotten about this one that I'd written previously and wanted to put out on June the 9th. So today is June the 9th, so here it is. Well today is the 30th anniversary of the Menley Hall murder case. I've posted the podcast today as it remains an unsolved case. There has been renewed interest in the case as police have been appealing for information and trying to take people back to June 1996. Using the memories of Euro 96, the football competition, Core Britannia, Bath Nightlife, and the England versus Switzerland match, the first game of Euro 96. Alan Shearer scored England's goal, and Badil Skinner and the Lightning Seeds were top of the pops with the song The Three Lions. This was all to jog recollections of that weekend 30 years on. There was also a National Crime Watch live appeal on March 19 sorry, March 2026. DCI Ben Lavender appeared on BBC One with Melanie's father Steve and his sister Dominique that gave the case a fresh television coverage shortly before the anniversary. Crime Stoppers had a reason for a renewed attention. A reward up to £20,000 for information was passed anonymously. That leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible. That all made it easier for the police and the media to push the case on again. Well Melanie Hall was twenty five years old in June 1996. She lived with her parents, Steve and Pat Hall, in Bradford on Avon Wiltshire, next to Bath, and she worked as a clerical worker at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. She had a psychology degree and was doing temporary clerical work at the hospital. In june nineteen ninety six, she was in a new relationship with doctor Philip Kirlbaum, who also worked at the Royal United Hospital. It was thought they'd been seeing each other for about three weeks. On Saturday the eighth of June, they went into Bristol shopping. Melanie bought a pale blue dress to wear that evening. England drew one one with Switzerland in the opening game of Euro ninety six. Melanie and Philip then went to a barbecue attended by about sixty people, and later they went on to a nightclub, Cadalics Nightclub in Walcourt Street, Bath with another couple that they knew. Cadalics was one of Bath's main mainstream nightclubs and was later known as Club XL. There is some uncertainty about Melanie's movements before the night out. Most accounts say her mother Pat dropped her off at Philip's home with an overnight bag. Melanie's own car appeared to have been left at or near the Royal United Hospital. Inside Cadalik's nightclub, Melanie and Philip became separated. Some accounts say Philip left because he became angry or upset because Melanie had been dancing with another man. The man she'd been dancing with later came forward and was eliminated from the police inquiries. Melanie's friends left the club at about ten past one in the morning of the ninth of June, apparently believing that Philip was still there. Melanie was last definitely seen alive by somebody who knew her at about ten past one on Sunday the ninth of June. She was sitting on a stall near the edge of the dance floor inside Cadalik's nightclub. I'm saying Cadalik's nightclub is in fact Cadillac's obviously. Anyhow, there's some variation about reported times when Melanie was last seen. Some accounts give the last sightings about ten past one as said. Others say it was later. One woman one woman witness saw a woman matching Melanie's description sitting on an armchair talking to a tanned skinned man. He was described as smartly dressed, wearing a brown silk shirt, black trousers and black shoes. According to the account, the woman left at about 1.45, with a man following her up the stairs towards the exit. The tanned skin was interesting because it indicated that the man probably had a job working outside. Police released an effit of the man seen inside Cadillacs with the woman, who may have been Melanie. He was described as white, in his mid to late twenties, about twenty seven, five foot ten inches tall, medium build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, bushy eyebrows, clean shaven. He was said to be wearing black trousers, black shoes and a brown silk shirt, I said. He may have had a gold hoop earring and a white ear and a flashy gold watch. Police have continued to regard this E fit as an important focus of appeal. There were also a couple of references to possible sightings outside the club. One possible sighting involved a couple near St. Michael's Hall, a short distance from Cadlax. Another involved a woman and a man outside or walking towards the podium car park which was close to the club. Police have also referred to an unconfirmed sighting of a woman, possibly matching Melanie's description, arguing with a man in old orchard, around the corner from the nightclub entrance. That was between one forty five and two AM. It's not been confirmed that any of these sightings were Melanie. There has been discussions about whether Melanie would have left the club with a complete stranger. One view is that this seems unlikely because she was meant to be staying at her boyfriend's home and her belongings were there. Another possibility is that she encountered someone she knew from Bath, the hospital or clubbing circles or some other acquaintance. Another possibility is that she accepted what she thought was a safe lift. It has been suggested that she may have walked towards a taxi rank or a car park and was then abducted. These are all theories, not facts. There's also been speculation about whether alcohol or drugs affected events that night. People watching a Channel 5 documentary that was screened recently thought that Melanie's pupils in one photograph looked consistent with ecstasy use. And it was noted that by 1996 ecstasy had become a mainstream in many nightclubs. There's no evidence that Melanie had taken drugs that night. Her boyfriend Philip Kurbone's behaviour has also been discussed. Some people found it strange that he apparently left Melanie alone late at night after an argument. The crime watch reconstruction is said to include him saying that he was hoping for a reaction and that Melanie knew where the car was that he was sitting in. This had led to questions about whether Melanie knew that he had left, whether she expected to follow him, and whether the later accounts of events is complete. There's also discussion about whether his car was captured on CCTV and whether the CCTV could show whether Melanie was in the car. There were further discussions about whether Phillips' flat was forensically searched. The Channel V documentary apparently mentions searches of his car, but not much about his flat. Some argue that if Melanie had been killed indoors by repeated blunt force trauma, a modern forensic search may detect blood or tissue traces even decades later. Others point out that the forensic practice in nineteen ninety six was less advanced than it is today. It was never confirmed whether Philip's flat was thoroughly forensically examined. When Melanie did not turn home, her parents were not immediately alarmed because they thought she was staying with her boyfriend Philip. On Monday afternoon at about three fifteen PM, her mother reportedly left a note on Melanie's car asking her to call. The major concern began when Melanie failed to arrive at work. By Monday evening her family realized that nobody knew where she was. Her father later said they quickly realized there was a major problem, and within days believed that she was probably dead or in serious trouble. Melanie was reported missing on the eleventh of june nineteen ninety six. In the early stages police focused heavily on Bath and the people that had been in or around Cadillac's nightclub that night. Phillips spoke at a press conference about her disappearance. Police began searching the river Avon. About a month later a BBC television crime watch reconstruction was broadcast. Two and a half years later the police searched the river again, but nothing was found. More than two thousand clubgoers and taxi drivers were reportedly interviewed, and more than one thousand two hundred leads were investigated. Later figures to the case refer to one thousand seven hundred calls from the public, five thousand seven hundred investigative actions and sixteen hundred statements. Later still police refer to more than six thousand investigative actions and two thousand statements. So an intensive investigation. From nineteen ninety six onwards the investigation followed many lines of inquiry. No trace of Melanie was found during the original missing persons investigation. In nineteen ninety eight, police interviewed John Cannon, although he was in prison at the time. He was reportedly cleared of any involvement, but one theory mentioned was that Cannon may have been connected with his cellmate Christopher Clark, who was later transferred to a hospital in Bath before Melanie disappeared. Christopher Clark was apparently living in a hostel for parole prisoners in central Bath when he tried to rape a woman, leaving a nightclub about a month after Melanie vanished. He was previously interviewed over Melanie's disappearance but was released because of lack of evidence. He later attacked a woman in Bath and was jailed for life. There was also the unidentified Batman rapist. He committed at least 17 sexual assaults in Bath in Kingswood between 1991 and 2000. He was known to target women in cars, often at knife point, and sometimes forced them to drive to quiet areas. Police mounted Operation Eagle and issued 25,000 leaflets in the central bath area and used crime watch appeals and DNA tested up to 2,000 men. He first struck in May 1991 and attacked again later that year, then after Gaps attacked more women in ninety six and ninety seven. On the twenty sixth of january nineteen ninety nine he dropped a faded grey Batman Forever baseball cap, hence the name, after attempting to abduct a woman in Bathwick, then abducted and assaulted another woman who was nearby within minutes of the failed attempt. One attack associated with the Batman rapers took place in June 1996. The victim Linda Hamlin, age forty two from Cardiff, was attacked in Ham Garden Car Park in Bath after parking her BMW. The attacker grabbed her from behind, held a knife to her throat, and tried to force her into the car. He slashed her wrist tendons when she fought back. She was treated at the Royal United Hospital, and notes connected to this attack led to later discussions of car parks, attempted abductions, and possible links with Melanie Hawes case. But there was no firm connection established. Eddie Browning was also mentioned as a suspect. He was convicted and later released on a technicality in relation to the 1988 murder of Marie Wilkes, a twenty two-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant. She was abducted from the hard shoulder of the M 50 and murdered nearby. Browning was from South Wales, had been a bouncer, and said to be capable of punching somebody hard enough to break a jaw. He was released in 1994 and reportedly being sought by police in May 1996 after allegedly threatening his estranged wife. Main suspect is Mark Schilibier. He'd been repeatedly linked in the press and discussions about the Melanie Hall abduction. He was convicted of murdering an eighteen year old Rebecca Stores in 1999 after meeting her at a party in Wales. Rebecca had been attacked with weapons believed to include a hammer and a Stanley knife. She was strangled and sexually assaulted. Police found tools in Shilleber's car, including a claw hammer, and a hammer was found near the murder scene. Schilibier was jailed for life in December 2000 with a minimum term of twenty two years. Before his conviction for the Rebecca Stores murder, Schillibier had been stood trial in 1998 for the murder of Kevin Muliden in Bath, but he was acquitted. Kevin Mulligin had been stabbed and had a broken neck and his flat was set on fire. Schillibier was said to have confessed to the cellmate that he'd killed Melanie Hall, but later withdrew the claim and refused to cooperate with detectives. His name remained publicly linked by the case, but he'd not been charged with Melanie's murder. Schilliber was suspected of other murders, especially of gay men. Louise Smith was killed in nineteen ninety five after leaving a nightclub in Yate near Bristol. Her killer David Frost was convicted in nineteen ninety eight after returning from South Africa. He did not know Louise and followed her home after laundering outside the nightclub, waiting for a lone woman. The notes say that Frost had probably already left the UK by june nineteen ninety six when Melanie disappeared, but this is not known for sure. In March two thousand three, two unnamed men were arrested in connection with Melanie Hall's disappearance. Contemporary and later accounts describe them only as two men in their thirties. Their arrests led to searches connected with Ingallsbatch, about five miles south of Bath. Police also searched a flat in Bath, the house in Ingallsbatch, an underground vault at a charity shop in Bath, and a field at Beaufont Beaufort Farm. Nothing was found. The information that prompted the search was later regarded as a false alarm. Both of them were released without charge in August 2003. In November 2004, Melanie Hall was declared legally dead. A coroner at Bath County Court, Paul Forrest, recorded an open verdict. He said it was likely that Melanie had been unlawfully killed on the night she disappeared. Five years later, 5th of October 2009, Wootman Clearing Vegetation near Junction 14 of the M five at Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, found Melanie's remains. They were discovered near the northbound slip road leading on to the M five towards Gloucester, about twenty five miles from Bath. A black bin liner wrapped or tied with blue rope, contained human bones, a skull and a ring. The ring was shown to Melanie's parents who confirmed it was hers. Dental records and postmortem examinations identified the remains as Melanie Hall. Police concluded that Melanie had suffered severe fractures to her face. Later reports referred to a fractured skull and reportedly a broken jaw and cheekbone. The damage suggested severe blunt force trauma to the head and face. The cause of death was not formally declared, but the violence suggested rage, a personal motive, an attempt to destroy identity or simply an extremely violent assault. Melanie's clothing and belongings were not found. Her handbag had contained cosmetics, a Midlands checkbook and a bank card. Jewelry included an X watch with an expanding bracelet and silver drop earrings. The black bin liner and blue rope became important exhibits. Later reports say Melanie was naked and wrapped in a number of bin bags, secured with a thirteen meter length of four millimeter blue polypropane rope. Police say that the rope was not one single length but four separate pieces knotted together. There were seven knots, three joining the lengths together, and four additional knots. DCI James Riccio described the number of knots as intriguing but said he could not explain it. The rope was commercially manufactured and commonly used on building sites and for drawing electrical cable through trunking. It was also described as common among builders and usually bought in large spools. There is some uncertainty about whether the remains were buried or not. Some reports say the bones were found in undergrowth, while a BBC report said other remains were found partially buried nearby. The more cautious interpretation is that the remains were probably not deeply buried. They may have been left in undergrowth, then partly covered by vegetation, soil movement, or animal activity over the years. If there was a burial, it was probably shallow. There's no clear evidence in the notes of a carefully dug grave. There was a set of three Ford keys found close to the remains, about a meter from where Melanie was discovered. Crime Watch reported the keys would have fitted a Ford transit van, or an escort or a fiesta manufactured in nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six. The keys may not necessarily be connected with the murder, but they were found so close to the body it was likely they were dropped at the same time. After the discovery of the remains, the investigation was nick uh was named Operation Denmark. Police appealed again for information about Melanie's missing clothing, shoes, handbag and jewellery, and about anybody that might have been in Cadillac's nightclub on the night of the eighth, ninth of june nineteen ninety six. They also asked for sightings of Melanie after ten past one in the morning of the ninth. Information about who she left with, if anyone suspicious or any suspicious activity or vehicles near the M five junction fourteen slip road, anyone whose behaviour changed after june nineteen ninety six, anyone connected with blue polypropane rope, anyone that knew where Menley's belongings had gone. The location of the remains became important. The body was found beside the motorway slip road, nearly thirty miles twenty five miles from Cadillac. Forensic criminologist Professor Jane Moncton Smith later argued that whoever deposited the body would probably have had to consider cameras, police patrols and speed cameras and the like. She suggested that the person who left the body was probably familiar with the area. Others speculated that the site was chosen because the motorway slope roads do not usually attract dog walkers or joggers, and that may explain why the remains lay there for years before being discovered. There is disagreement over whether the killer needed detailed local knowledge. One view is that the site was too specific and useful to be random. Wooded, relatively hidden away from the houses and anybody that might be passing by, but close enough to the motorway for a quick disposal. Another view is that panicking killer may simply have driven out of bath at night and taken the first convenient looking place. It also pointed out that stopping on a motorway slip road was risky because freight traffic and police patrols could appear at any time. The disposal there may therefore have been quick. It's also suggested that there could have been both driver and passenger, although there's no evidence of this. On the 5th of October 2010, the first discovery of the first anniversary of the discovery of Melanie's remains, Detective Superintendent Mike Courtier said he believed a small number of people in Bath knew exactly what happened to Melanie and that some were shielding the killer or killers. October 2013. Police made what they described as a significant and very interesting discovery. They recovered a white Volkswagen golf jeans. ETI, which was examined by forensic scientists. Nothing was found that could be connected to the murder, but police also revealed that forensic scientists had analyzed blue rope and they had a lead on where it may have come from. A property in Round Hill Park, Whiteway, was searched in connection with an arrest. A 45-year-old man was arrested in November 2013, but there was not enough evidence to charge him. March 2014 police appealed for any information about a white Volkswagen golf GTI Hardtop, the registration number C 752CYE. They wanted to hear from anyone who owned or knew anything about the car between April and August 1996. The vehicle had last been sold to a new owner on the eleventh of december nineteen ninety-eight, but it had been untacked since June 2001 and was therefore probably scrapped. The car had been linked in other mista and in other material to the Cardiff in Pentwin areas of Wales, and it's been suggested that the killer or the accomplice may have used it, but this was never established as fact. June twenty sixteen, the twentieth anniversary of Melanie's disappearance, the police announced a DNA development. They said DNA evidence had been found on an item recovered from the scene where her remains had been discovered. This was thought to be the blue rope used to tie the bag or bags containing Melanie's remains. Detective Superintendent Andy Bevan said the discovery brought the investigation an important step closer. He also said the police had no prime suspects and no conclusive evidence linking Melanie's murder to other offences. Also in June 2016, Melanie's parents offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or people responsible. Steve Hall said he believed the inquiry would be sold either by advances in DNA or by somebody with crucial information coming forward. June 2016, a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of Melanie Hall's murder. He was questioned, then released on police bail pending further inquiries. He was not publicly named and there were no charges that followed. So 45-year-old man he would have been 25 back in 1996. The conviction of Christopher Hampton in 2016 for the 1984 murder of Melanie Road was mentioned because of similarities between the cases. Melanie Road, aged 17, was raped and murdered after leaving a Bath nightclub in 1984. Hampton's conviction came after DNA break after a DNA breakthrough. Police said that the case showed old murders could still be solved. So there were two Melanie cases. Melanie Rhodes' killing was described as a street attack by an opportunist local offender who followed her, attempted to control her with a knife, then raped and murdered her when she resisted. Melanie Horse case is different because her body was concealed, transported and deposited far away from where she was last seen. A relative connected to the Melanie Road case later commented on the coincidence that two women named Melanie were last seen alive after a night out in Bath, twelve years apart to the day. In twenty twenty three the case received renewed attention because of a Channel 5 documentary, The Body in the Bag, the Murder of Melanie Hall. Superintendent James Riccio said the police would be led by evidence, but based on more than six thousand investigative investigations and all the statements, intelligence, and the other information they had, he believed that Melanie knew her killer. He said the EFIT remained a central focus of the appeal. Riccio addressed Melanie's missing belongings, her dress, shoes, jacket, handbag and cosmetics, checkbook, bank card, and jewellery would really help if they could be located. By 2026, the case remained one of Avon and Somerset's police's longest running live murder investigations. Eleven people had been arrested over the years, but nobody had been charged. In January 2026, the Daily Mirror reported the decades had launched a new root and branch review. DCI Ben Lavender, leading the cold case team, said that the contents of ninety crates of evidence were being digitalized so they could be analyzed with modern technology. AI, I suppose. A pool of under a hundred persons of interest had been reportedly reduced to fewer than twenty people of interest. Officers were reinterviewing alibi witnesses to see whether they still stood by their accounts. The 2026 review also included a renewed examination of CCTV. The investigation had at least ninety-six hours of CCTV footage. Officers were looking for any missed sightings of Melanie and for any sign of the 36 vehicles now linked to potential suspects. DCI Lavender said the case had been reviewed from back from the beginning, and he believed that the answers lay in the archive of material that they had. Police also appealed again to former girlfriends, friends, flatmates, relatives, or associates who may have information. Lavender said someone knows what happened, whether that is the killer, or somebody the killer told, or somebody that saw suspicious behaviour, blood, or an unexplained absence that night. He also issued a direct warning to the killer, saying that the person still had a chance to speak to the to them before the police came to them. Christopher Haniwell remained a person of interest, although police have not described him as a strong line of inquiry. Halliwell is serving a whole life sentence for the murders of Sean O'Callaghan and Becky Godon Edwards. In January 2026, DCI Lavender said Haniwell was being considered because he'd killed in relative proximity. The argument in favour of looking at him is that he abducted women from nightlife settings, he used vehicles, stripped victims, and disposed of bodies in rural or semi-rural places. The arguments against including the lack of proven linked to bath and the fact that Halliwell's known victims were not wrapped in bin bags and rope in the same way. And the possibility that Melanie's murder was a one-off rather than serial offending. In June 2026, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported new information about Halliwell's connections to the area where Melanie's remains were found. Electoral roll records reportedly show that Halliwell's sister Sarah lived in Dursley, about five miles from the deposition site, for four years by the time that Melanie was murdered. His mother Sophia and stepfather John reportedly living in nearby or the neighbouring Nailsworth for around twenty years from 1986. A former friend claimed Halliwell knew the Michael Wood services and the roads around the junction where the body was found, and that he knew Bath saying he burgled an auction house there in the 1980s. The Mirror newspaper said Halliwell under the name Christopher Bentley had been involved in burglaries in the early 1980s, including houses and churches in Cheltenham, Marlborough, Langley Borough, all close to Bath. After further burglaries across the southwest he was jailed in 1986. The article argued that he travelled widely through Wiltshire, Gloucester, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Supporters of the Halliwell theory see this as evidence that he knew Bath and the M5 Gloucestershire area well. There are also discussions of Halliwell's alleged canal interest. Some sources say he regularly spent time on the Kennet and Avon Canal, which links the Bath area with Wiltshire, and passes not far from Maltcourt Street, where the nightclub was. One jail letter from Halliwell apparently said that in 2007-2009 he restored a canal barge he intended to live on, which supports a later canal interest. Apparently there was a witness that um heard somebody talking about a woman called Melanie going missing when they passed the canal boat just after she was killed. Police also searched a farm called Baxter's Farm with a line of inquiry involving Christopher Halliwell and another missing woman. Well, that concludes that podcast. The Melanie Hoare murder. I'd like to thank anybody listening. I'd like to thank Damsel 5 for providing the um background music. And until next time, I'll say goodbye.