Inside the grisly sex murder of schoolgirl Melanie Road, 17, which sparked 32-YEAR manhunt for ‘family man’ killer
SPILLING out of the nightclub with the 2am crowds, Melanie Road bid a cheerful farewell to her boyfriend and pals then started walking home.
The 17-year-old schoolgirl had made the journey countless times before - yet this time, it would end tragically after she was murdered by a monster.
Melanie, from Bath, Somerset, was just "moments" from home when she was raped and stabbed 26 times - including eight times in her breasts.
After the brutal attack in June 1984, she was left to die in a pool of blood. Her body was found hours later by a milkman and his 11-year-old son.
The grisly murder sparked one of Britain's biggest ever manhunts - with killer Christopher Hampton only brought to justice 32 years later, in 2016.
Melanie has died hundreds of times, in hundreds of different ways, in my mind
Karen Road
It also left Melanie's family plagued by grief and horrifying visions.
Julie, who led the team who finally cracked the murder case, says: "When I started on it, I never thought it would finish in the way it did.
"I never thought it would have so many twists and turns."
As for Melanie's elderly mum Jean, she recalls a popular and intelligent teenager who "made herself welcome wherever she went."
He said he'd constantly think: "Did you kill our little sister Melanie?."
But directly addressing Hampton, Adrian said: "You killed Melanie, you raped her, you mutilated her, and you chose to abandon her, you abandoned her when she was dying, our little sister Melanie."
The brave brother added: "Thirty-two years, I have listened to dozens of police officers assure me 'Adrian we will find him'. They were right, they did find you and when they told me, I cried, uncontrollably, I cried.
"My six-year-old daughter asked me 'Daddy, why are you crying?'.
"I had to tell her, 'the man who killed Aunty Melanie, my little sister, a long time ago, has now been caught, so we are all safe'."
In response, Adrian's girl said: “That is so sad, he needs to be punished”.
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And with Hampton now four years into his life sentence - and expected to die before he can return to the streets - justice has finally been served.
- The 'Catching Melanie's Killer' podcast by ITV News is . Two new episodes are being released every Tuesday until February 2