Police renew appeal for help to catch M-way body killer at last

Melanie Hall, 25, was last seen alive enjoying a night out in Bath, Somerset, in 1996.

Her remains were found last October near junction 14 of the M5 in South Gloucestershire by a workman clearing vegetation.

Avon and Somerset Police said they have still not established what happened to Miss Hall after she was last seen in a nightclub on June 9 1996.

In a bid to jog memories, detectives have released images of clothing "similar" to that worn by Miss Hall on the night.

Detective Superintendent Mike Courtiour, leading the case, said: "The investigation team has continued to work tirelessly during the past six months, following up new information we have received and revisiting the previous investigations that followed Melanie's disappearance from Walcot Street, back in 1996.

"Two hundred and fifty additional statements have been taken and 1,200 new tasks and investigative actions have been completed. The forensic work has been extensive and is still continuing today. Results of ongoing sensitive scientific tests are still not complete. However, at this moment, there is no forensic breakthrough."

Miss Hall, a psychology graduate, had been on a night out with friends and her boyfriend of three weeks, Dr Philip Karlbaum, who left the club "upset" after seeing her dancing with another man.

Miss Hall, who worked as a clerical officer in the orthopaedic department at Bath's Royal United Hospital where she met Dr Karlbaum, was last seen sitting on a stool near the dancefloor shortly after 1am.

Thousands of nightclubbers and taxi drivers were interviewed in an investigation involving 60 officers and several searches of the River Avon, but no trace of Miss Hall was found.

That was until October last year, when her remains were discovered hidden under five plastic bags. A ring which had been in her family for generations was also found.

DS Courtiour went on: "Where did she go? Who was she with? What happened to her and then resulted in her body being dumped 30 miles away, wrapped in black bins bags and tied up with blue rope?

"We do know that there was considerable activity around and outside the nightclub on that evening nearly 14 years ago."

In 2003 police arrested two men in connection with Miss Hall's disappearance but they were released without charge.

The police case has never been closed and detectives have looked at possible links with the case of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh and the so-called "Batman rapist" – a serial sex attacker in Bath who has evaded capture for years.