The unsolved murder of a graduate 30 years ago “broke” her mother who will never get justice after developing dementia, her family have revealed.
Melanie Hall, 25, vanished after leaving a Bath nightclub in the early hours of June 9, 1996. Her remains were found 13 years later in October 2009. Melanie was wrapped in rope and bin bags, and dumped at an M5 slip road near Thornbury, Glos, 28 miles away.
Issuing an appeal to catch the NHS worker’s killer ahead of the 30th anniversary of her murder, Melanie’s sister Dominique revealed that their mum Pat, 81, never recovered from the tragedy.
Flanked by dad Steve, Dominique said: “My mum has got advanced dementia now so she’s not going to get any of the answers she needs, or needed, so it’s really down to me and dad now to speak for Mel and to speak on behalf of my mum as well.
OPINION
View 7 ImagesSteve and Dominique Hall(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary )
“Even though mum won’t understand what’s happening now and she won’t understand any answers if we get them we’d still be doing justice for my mum as well as Mel if we got some answers now. It broke my mum, I don’t know if you’re allowed to say that in these interviews, but it did break mum.”
Steve, 82, added: “Looking at Pat, I think she gave up when Melanie was found. I think she kept going until that point in time and I think when she got her daughter back, I think for her that was the finish of it, and she wasn’t the same after that.”
View 7 ImagesDominique, holding her first daughter, with Melanie(Image: Collect/Avon and Somerset Constabulary)
Steve, a retired building and architecture lecturer and former chairman of Bath City Football Club, said he found it difficult to talk to his wife about their grief.
“We never grieved together did we? We grieved separately. I mean even Pat and I, we rarely talked about Melanie, in fact when we did we’d probably get in an argument because Pat would want me to make things better and I would say well I can’t make them better. So we grieved alone,” he said.
To mark the anniversary of the disappearance, Avon and Somerset Police have launched a “Justice for Melanie” campaign to encourage witnesses to come forward with information.
View 7 ImagesMelanie Hall vanished 30 years ago(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary )
The appeal, including a short film featuring the Three Lions song by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, will urge anyone who was in Bath that night to think back to anything they remember, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Det Chief Insp Ben Lavender said: “Melanie’s family have endured unimaginable pain and uncertainty for three decades and have shown extraordinary strength and resilience throughout this time. Everything we do is driven by the need to provide them with the justice and answers they so desperately need. “
The appeal film is due to be played on Saturday during the match between Bath Rugby and Leicester Tigers and will appear in venues and an advertising van travelling around the city.
View 7 ImagesDCI Ben Lavender is leading the current probe(Image: Reach PLC)
The police investigation into the murder, codenamed Operation Denmark, has remained open and live for 30 years and has involved 400 officers. Detectives last year began a “root and branch” review, digitising 90 crates of evidence so they can analyse it with the latest technology.
A pool of under 100 persons of interest has been cut to less than 20 and alibi witnesses are being re-interviewed. Eleven people have been arrested over the years but none charged. Among the persons of interest is double convicted murderer Christopher Halliwell, who abducted two women from outside nightclubs 27 miles away in Swindon, Wilts.
Halliwell, 62, is currently serving a whole life sentence for the murders of Sian O’Callaghan, 22, in 2001 and Becky Godden Edwards, 20, in 2003.
View 7 ImagesMelanie was last seen alive on June 9, 1996(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary )
Melanie had a degree in psychology and was doing a temporary clerical job at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Somerset, while living with her parents in Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts. On the evening she vanished, she was alone in the Cadillacs nightclub after her German doctor boyfriend went home, as well as the couple they had been out with. She was last seen at 1.10am sitting on a stool by the dancefloor.
Steve said he suspects more than one person knows what happened to his “trusting” daughter. “You always think in the early days there will be a quick resolution to what’s happened, that’s not been the case but we travel in hope and if it’s 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, whatever it takes to come to a conclusion. For my own part, I just hope I live long enough to see a conclusion,” he said.
Retired Det Supt Steve Livings, who led the original investigation, said he still regularly thinks about Melanie and her family.
Mr Livings told the Mirror: “They say old detectives have one case that stays with them and Melanie was that for me. It does nag away at you and there aren’t many days when I don’t think about her, Steve, Pat and the family. I just wish that one piece of DNA would be found or something would happen that would lead to a breakthrough.”
View 7 ImagesThe slip road on the M5 where Melanie’s remains were left(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary )
Dominique, a mother of three daughters, hopes that a wife, girlfriend or former partner of the killer will come forward with information.
“I would appeal to those female members of the community that might have a doubt about a male person in their life and I think if that was you and that was your daughter and think about what my mum’s been through and have some compassion for my mum and my family,” she said.
“Thirty years is a long time isn’t it? She’s been gone longer than she was alive, it’s a very strange concept isn’t it? I feel the same as dad, it’s a feeling of time ticking on a little bit now. Dad’s 82 now and I’m not far off 60 and I think time is really going on and I hope we get the answers we need and the justice for her while we’re still able to.”
For Steve the only proper justice would be bringing his daughter back. He said: “That’s not going to happen but we do feel if we can actually bring Melanie’s killer or killers into court then at least we’ve done the last thing we can do for her in her name.”
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Call 101 with information for the Operation Denmark team or Crimestoppers anonymously via their website or on 0800 555111