Melanie Hall murder: Charging decision requested over suspect

Melanie Hall was last seen alive in Bath in 1996

Detectives investigating the 1996 murder of Melanie Hall have asked the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a decision on whether to charge a suspect.

The 45-year-old man, who was arrested on suspicion of her murder in November 2013, has been released on bail while the CPS considers the evidence.

Miss Hall, 25, from Wiltshire, was last seen leaving a nightclub in Bath.

Her remains were found in a bin bag near the M5 in 2009.

The man, who was arrested at his home in Bath, has been bailed until December.

Black bin liner

Nicola Haywood, the south west's deputy chief Crown prosecutor, said: "Avon and Somerset police have handed a file to the CPS for consideration as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence on which to charge anyone in relation to the disappearance and death of Melanie Hall."

Police seized a white VW Golf GTi hardtop last October after receiving "significant information" about the case.

In March, officers appealed for information to trace a second car of the same colour, make and model.

Miss Hall, who was a clerical worker at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, had been for a night out at Cadillacs nightclub when she went missing.

A black bin liner containing her bones and skull was found by a workman clearing vegetation next to a slip-road at junction 14 of the motorway, near Thornbury in South Gloucestershire, on 5 October 2009.

Melanie Hall murder timeline

• 9 June 1996 - Miss Hall is last seen at Cadillacs nightclub in Bath and a missing persons inquiry is launched the next day

• 13 March 2003 - Police investigating the 1996 disappearance of Miss Hall search several sites in the Bath area, following the arrest of two men in connection with the case. Months later they are released without charge

• 7 October 2009 - Bones found by the side of the M5 motorway to the north of Bristol are identified as those of Miss Hall's

• 11 December 2009 - The funeral of Miss Hall takes place in Bath - 13 years after she went missing

• 25 November 2013 - A man is arrested on suspicion of the murder of Miss Hall