POLICE searching for missing Bradford on Avon woman, Melanie Hall have scaled down their investigation, after new leads brought them no closer to solving the mystery of her disappearance in June 1996.

Melanie, then 25, went out with friends to Cadillacs nightclub in Bath almost seven years ago and has not been seen since.

In March, police arrested two men in connection with her disappearance after a tip-off.

The men were released on police bail, and detailed searches were then carried out by forensic teams on farmland in a nearby village, and a shop down the road from the club.

Police are still trying to trace a vital witness called Shelley who was drinking in the Lamb and Lion Pub in Bath on the night Melanie disappeared.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "She is described as white, with long dark hair to the middle of her back, and may have had a connection with the hairdressing trade."

They think Shelley would now be in her late twenties or early thirties.

She is believed to have left the pub with two men at closing time and walked towards Cadillacs, but police think she then changed her mind about going to the club.

Anyone with any information can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or the incident room on 01179 454008.