Bristol man jailed for 22 years over 1984 murder of 17-year-old Melanie Road

She was described as bright and outgoing by her family

A family photo of Melanie Road (PA)

A 64-year-old man who murdered a teenage girl in a sexually motivated attack 32 years ago has been jailed for at least 22 years.

Christopher Hampton only finally admitted murdering Melanie Road, 17, in court after he was charged following a DNA breakthrough.

Melanie was sexually assaulted and died from multiple stab wounds to her chest and back after he pounced on her yards from her home in Bath as she made her way home from a nightclub in June 1984. Her body was discovered at 5.30am by a milkman and his 10-year-old son.

Father-of-four Hampton, of Staple Hill Road, Fishponds, Bristol, had been due to stand trial at Bristol Crown Court on Monday after originally denying the charge.

He was caught in 2015 after police matched DNA from Melanie's clothing to a member of Hampton's family on the national database.

Sentencing him to life, Mr Justice Popplewell told him: "You murdered and sexually abused Melanie Road in a cul-de-sac in Bath near where you and she lived.

"You were 32. You didn't know each other. Melanie was 17, a happy, outgoing and sociable girl who at the time of her death was about to take her A-levels. It was a life full of promise. Only you will know precisely how you approached her and carried out your attack but certain things are plain from the evidence.

"It was a lengthy and brutal attack for your own sexual gratification. She was repeatedly stabbed – 26 times in all – with a sharp-edged knife, causing 4in wounds. Eight of the wounds were to her breasts.

"You first stabbed her while she was on her feet on the street on her way home, before chasing her some 30 metres round the corner to the cul-de-sac where she died."

Following the attack, Hampton married his second wife and had a daughter, Amy, with her. He also had a stepson.

"You married and had a child and lived your family life for all those years knowing the extreme misery you must have inflicted on your victim's family but you were too callous and cowardly to put an end to their heartache," the judge told Hampton. "You will very likely die in prison."