Operation Eagle Further Enquiries

Following on from my relatively recent blog on the so-called ‘Batman Rapist’ who prowled the streets of the city of Bath, UK between 1991 & 2000.

The Batman rapist is an unidentified serial sex offender and is the subject of Britain’s longest-running serial rape case investigation code-named Operation Eagle. There is still a £10,000 reward on offer for information leading to the capture and conviction of the attacker.

His message to women was and still is clear —” It does not matter who you are, where you are, how old you are, whether you are in your car with your child or just yards from your front door. You are never safe.”

I have tracked down some further evidence in this case so I thought I would share it with you.

Before going any further it is right to say that the rapist is believed to have an excellent geographical knowledge of Bath, Somerset and its surrounding area. The attacks seem to have all happened on the darker/longer nights of winter and I think this is an important clue

This sick individual began his campaign of terror on May 21st 1991 when he attacked a 36-year-old woman who was returning home after working the night shift. As she was parking her car in a lane at the rear of her house in Southdown, Bath, a man in a black balaclava with eyeslits, grabbed her, put his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat.

I am not certain about the black balaclava story as this is not mentioned i Crimewatch stories and as he is known to have told his victims, it does not seem quite true.

He told her to keep quiet or he would use the knife, then forced her back into her car, and drove her to a rough track just off Combe Hay Lane where he ripped the gusset of her tights and raped her.

He then drove her back to her home, warned her not to move for five minutes, and disappeared into the night. “I thought I was going to die,” the victim said. This method of attack has since become similar on between 13 & 17 occasions.

The rapist forces his way into the cars of lone women and drives them to a secluded spot where he rapes them. Curiously he always drives them back to where he accosted them, taking a much bigger risk of being caught.

He may have connections with Oldfield Park and Southdown, in Bath, and Kingswood in Bristol, although he doesn't seem to have known his way around there as he had to ask one of his victims for directions in driving her home.

One thing that has been drawn to my attention is that he often kept his eye on the time, even on one occasion using his victim's lighter to check the time on her watch. Did he have to get back for something? Work maybe?

Was the Batman rapist responsible for murder?

It has been suggested that the Batman rapist could also have been responsible for the murder of blonde hospital worker, Melanie Hall on Sunday June 6th 1996

25-year-old Melanie was a clerical worker at The Royal United Hospital in Bath she was last seen in Cadillacs nightclub in Walcot Street, Bath during a night out with her friends.

Her remains were found next to the northbound slip road of junction 14 on the M5 at Thornbury in October 2009. They were dumped in a black rubbish sack hidden in the undergrowth that had not been cut for a long time.

An e-fit of a male that Melanie was seen talking to in the nightclub on the night of her disappearance was issued in 1996

He is described as being white, 27 years old, 5ft 10ins, of medium build with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, bushy eyebrows and clean-shaven. He was wearing black trousers, black shoes and a brown silk shirt.

This description is not all similar to the description of the Batman rapist, however, I am struck by the similarity in height, build, age and the fact he was clean-shaven. Could this have been the same man who prowled the streets of Bath raping women? It does seem possible.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent James Riccio said, “A small or seemingly insignificant piece of information could still be the key to solving this case”. He asked the public to please consider the appeal points as well as the key dates and locations which feature in this case.

Like so many of these kinds of cases, there is so much conflicting evidence, much of which has been distorted and twisted over time.

Here are some details taken from a forum detailing some of the actions, although this writer refers to the rapist being nicknamed ‘The Riddler’ it seems that they are one and the same person:

VICTIM No. 1 was pretty blonde sales assistant Zoe Roberts, 23.

She was stalked through the streets of Bath in November 1994 by a “weird-looking” man.

Zoe was walking back to her car parked in the Bathwick district when she spotted the stranger behind her. Luckily she was able to cross the street close to a large lorry, slip into her car and drive away

She described the male as medium build and had dark hair. He was scruffy and “somehow didn’t look normal”. When Zoe got into her car the mystery male turned away so that she couldn’t see his face.

VICTIM No. 2 was a 27-year-old professional woman who was approached by a man as she parked her Ford Fiesta XR2 outside her Bathwick home after work. The man sprinted toward her and threatened her with a knife.

He ordered her to get back in the Fiesta as a passenger and he drove her five miles to a road near Bath University.

He stopped the car in a secluded layby, blindfolded her with a black cloth, tied her up and drove off again to a lonely wood.

He dragged his victim from the car, marched her into a copse and indecently assaulted and raped her. After the attack put a bag over her head and drove her home, then jumped from the car and ran off into the night.

The attacker is described as about 30, and 5ft 7 tall with a medium build and dark hair. He was wearing a woolly hat and a dark jumper. Police believe that he lived locally because he had “extensive” knowledge of small lanes close to the university.

It is believed that he deliberately chose to pounce close to his victim’s home because she would feel safe and be off her guard as she left her vehicle, heading to her home.

VICTIM No. 3 was Linda Hamblin, 42, of Cardiff. She needed plastic surgery after she was slashed by her attacker as he tried to bundle her into her car in Bath city centre. Linda was attacked in 1996 after parking her BMW in Bath’s Ham Garden car park.

The assailant grabbed Linda from behind, put a knife to her throat and tried to force her into the car. Linda fought her attacker and he lashed out with his knife slashing her wrist tendons. He fled the scene, most likely shocked by the mother-of-one’s courage.

She was rushed to Bath Royal United Hospital where she had to undergo cosmetic surgery. Linda said: “He told me he’d slit my throat. I thought he was going to kill me and I’d never see my husband or son again.”

VICTIM No. 4 According to the forum is suggested to be Melanie Hall but I am not going to consider that as anything definite, although her parents Steven and Patricia believe that she could have been a victim of the rapist and feel that she should be in this list. I want to look at things more before I confirm my opinions

VICTIM No. 5 was a teenage girl kidnapped and raped in Kingswood, Bristol-only seven miles from Bath- as she walked home after a night out with pals. The attacker dumped her and ran off in September 1996.

VICTIM No. 6 had a lucky escape the following month when the rapist tried to force his way into a 22-year-old woman’s car in Bathwick. But she locked the doors and sped off.

VICTIM No. 7 was a 16-year-old schoolgirl grabbed in Bath later that evening by a man wearing a stocking over his head under a baseball cap.

He hauled her kicking and screaming into an alley where he brutally raped her at knifepoint.

A 30-year-old man was later questioned in connection with this attack but later released.

Police were mystified by a lull after the offence. It was almost two years before the next attack was reported last summer.

Detectives think The Riddler might have moved away on business or been jailed for another offence.

VICTIM No. 8 was yet another woman driver kidnapped and raped in Bath. She was left so traumatised that she only told police after the fiend struck again twice last month. She sobbed: “I should have come forward earlier. I felt defiled. I threw away the chance of seeing him brought to justice before he did it to someone else. Now I’ve got to live with it.”

VICTIM No. 9 was a lone woman at a junction in Bathwick. The Riddler leapt into her car and ordered her to shift into the passenger seat.

But the 39-year-old woman scrambled out of the car and screamed.

VICTIM No. 10 encountered The Riddler just 15 minutes later as she parked her silver Mini in the adjoining district of Widcombe. He wrenched open the 40-year-old’s unlocked door, forced her into the passenger seat and sped off.

The sobbing woman was driven to nearby Freshford where he raced her Mini twice round the village in second and third gear, then headed to the village of Monkton Combe.

He pulled off the road onto an isolated track, dragged the terrified woman from the car and raped her.

THE Riddler then bundled his victim back into the passenger seat and drove her back to the scene of the kidnap.

VICTIM No. 11 wrote to Somerset and Avon police after they issued their latest plea. She told them she was assaulted and police are pleading for her to talk to them in person.

Police think The Riddler may have timed his 10th attack for Crimewatch’s anniversary as his first rape was featured on the show.

He left his baseball cap ‘calling card’ in the car. Police have discovered it was given away free with a Batman video by Woolworth in 1995.

Inspector Ian Appleton, leading the hunt for The Riddler, said: “He’s brazen and may have a military background. He does his homework and goes prepared with materials.”

Top criminal psychologist Tony Black says The Riddler is almost certainly a lonely loser.

The retired head of psychology at Broadmoor high-security Hospital said: “The fact he lets his victims have their cars back, rather than smashing them up, suggests he falls into the lonely category.

“He probably lacks skills in initiating and maintaining relationships. So he ends up accosting someone and forcing them to do what he wants.

“He’s looking for revenge against womankind in general, possibly because of the actions of an individual such as his mother or sister.

“He’s an unhappy person unable to form relationships.”

But as far as the police and public are concerned, The Riddler is a cold-blooded rapist who MUST be hunted down before he wrecks the lives of any more innocent women.

So the list goes on, each of the victims of this horrible individual was abused and left fearing for their lives. Women in Bath didn’t feel safe even out driving their cars and this is just not acceptable.

The vile offences discussed here all seem to point to a strong possibility that they were committed by the same person but, we are missing that one chink of evidence that will put the puzzle together. I am of the opinion that there is a good chance the rapist is no longer roaming the streets and could well be serving life sentences for murder but, it is only right that victims and their loved ones should be given the answers that they deserve and the assailant publicly named.

I know a colleague of mine has been working on this at an academic level and I hope to be posting her article on this very soon. In the meantime, if you have any information that will help our case review along then please get in touch.

Email: [email protected]