Man Gets Life For 1984 Melanie Road Murder

A 64-year-old father-of-four has been jailed for life after pleading guilty to the murder of 17-year-old Melanie Road in Bath 32 years ago.

Christopher Hampton will serve a minimum of 22 years after he admitted killing the teenager in the early hours of 9 June, 1984, as she made 20-minute walk home alone following a night out with friends. 

Melanie was sexually assaulted and died from multiple stab wounds to her chest and back.

Her body was discovered at 5.30am by a milkman and his son, near a block of garages a short distance from her home.
Hampton, from Staple Hill Road, Fishponds, Bristol, had been due to stand trial at Bristol Crown Court on Monday after denying the charge, but changed his plea at the last minute.

Members of Melanie's family, including her 81-year-old mother Jean, sat in the public gallery of court room one to hear Hampton admit his guilt.

Grey-haired Hampton, wearing glasses and a black suit and shirt, stood up and clearly replied "Guilty" as the murder charge was put to him.

The painter and decorator was only caught after his 41-year-old daughter was arrested over a minor incident in 2014 and her DNA profile was put on the national database.
A familial match was identified with DNA taken from Melanie's body and clothing in 1984 - prompting police to request a mouth swab from Hampton. 

His DNA was found to match the sample taken from semen staining on the fly and crotch of Melanie's trousers.

Hampton had refused to answer questions in police interviews, referring to a statement read by his lawyer that merely said: "I did not kill or rape Melanie Road."

After Hampton's guilty plea, Melanie's mother described what it had been like to see the man who had evaded justice for her daughter's murder for so long.

She said: "When we finally went to the court in Bath and I saw this man standing there I thought 'it's not a man, he's a monster,' how could he do that?
"And then I realised that his wife and his daughter were sitting behind me - both blonde hair, the same as Melanie.

"How could he do that to somebody and then live with people like that and them not knowing?

"It hurts beyond repair. I always said if I got hold of him I'd strangle him or stick a knife into him, but I wouldn't even use my energy up on him.

"I feel he should be shut up in a dungeon...and left to rot, because he's not worth looking after."

Weeping as she read a victim impact statement in court, Melanie's sister Karen said she felt like she had been "living in a horror film" and her sister's death had affected every aspect of her life.

She said: "For me and my family, nothing has ever felt safe again. This is a nightmare I can't ever wake up from."

She said Melanie was "caring, kind, sensible and intelligent" about life and going travelling, but "her future was brutally taken".

Melanie's brother Adrian said: "I have spent the last 32 years worrying about every man that ever walked down the street, asking myself, 'did you kill our little sister Melanie'."