Catching Melanie's Killer - A True Crime Podcast by ITV News

How do you find a killer from the past? June 9th 1984. 17 year-old schoolgirl Melanie Road is murdered while walking home after a night out in the tourist city of Bath. In ITV News’ True Crime podcast, correspondent Robert Murphy learns how a murderer appeared in the night, killed this popular, bright student and disappeared. Leaving clues which detectives would pore over for decades.

A nationwide manhunt begins for the killer of schoolgirl Melanie Road. In the hours after the murder, a blood trail is discovered by detectives. Cold Case investigator Julie Mackay takes ITV News correspondent Robert Murphy back to the scene to describe how this gave police in 1984 their first clues. Inquiries start to stretch from this small city all over the world.

Has the killer of Melanie Road struck again? Police look at similarities between the stabbing of schoolgirl Melanie Road in June 1984 and the disappearance of a young mother two days afterwards. And years into the future, police ask chilling questions when another woman called Melanie disappears. She vanishes from the same city on the same date as Melanie Road was killed.

Julie Mackay takes control of the cold case inquiry into the death of Melanie Road. She hears about a man’s deathbed confession. But how can detectives prove he really is the murderer of Melanie Road? And 26 years after the killing, a witness comes forward offering explosive new evidence.

Scientists tell Julie Mackay and her cold case team they have an incredible DNA lead in the hunt for the killer of Melanie Road. But will it take the team on the right track? Julie builds a deep friendship with the mother of the murder victim. A forensic review reveals a fingerprint on Melanie Road’s shoe. But as this lead emerges, the Government is destroying old fingerprint records which may help solve this case.

Melanie Road’s mother writes a letter to the people of Bath asking them to search their memories and consciences as the 30th anniversary of the killing approaches. Cold case investigator Julie Mackay is told to drop the inquiry. And the team continues to search in the UK and abroad for the schoolgirl’s murderer.

Cold case investigator Gary Mason receives an email which turns the inquiry into the murder of Melanie Road on its head. Arrest teams are drafted in. And a custody time clock runs out, meaning the man police believe to be Melanie’s killer must be released.

Melanie Road’s family come face-to-face with her killer for the first time. But the clock is ticking for investigators to build a case with 30-year-old evidence. A trial starts. But what happens when the man in the dock is asked if he murdered the schoolgirl in 1984?