For those readers not in the know, Peter Tobin is a notorious serial killer from the UK. At this moment, it’s unknown how many victims he has had even though he has been convicted of three murders. However, there are fears that this may only be the tip of the iceberg.
Quiet, Unassuming, but Deadly
If you look at photographs of Tobin, aside from the snarling one when leaving court, then it’s fair to say that he appears quiet and unassuming. Of course, we now know different, but this outward appearance may very well be the reason why he was able to go unnoticed for decades.
The timescale we know of regarding Tobin and his crimes stretches from 1991 to 2006. In saying that, detectives believe he may have committed other sex offences, or perhaps even killed others, going back into the 1970s. The only problem is Tobin refuses to talk.
The Known Murders
So, what about the cases where we know Tobin was responsible? Well, it all came to an end in Glasgow 2006, and St Patrick’s Church.
This killing took place while Tobin was working under an alias as a handyman. A young Polish woman by the name Angelika Kluk worked as a cleaner at the church while studying in the city. She vanished, and her body was then discoverd beneath the floorboards in the church itself.
Of course, by then, Tobin had left.
He was found in London a few days after the discovery of her body. He had booked into a hospital under yet another name but was recognised and arrested. At this moment, it was believed that this was the only crime, but that was before they started to investigate his background.
Vicky Hamilton
Vicky Hamilton vanished from the town of Bathgate in 1991. She had been visiting her sister there and was returning home to Falkirk, but she never arrived.
After his arrest in Glasgow, police looked into other potential cases where Tobin may feature. It turned out he had lived in Bathgate, and near where Vicky was last seen, before leaving soon after. His house in Bathgate was examined by forensics before police moved their attention over 400 miles away to the south of England and a town called Margate.
What police found in this house hundreds of miles away was the body of Vicky buried in the back garden. Tobin had killed her and then moved her body to his new house with the belief that the police would never look there for her.
But she wasn’t alone.
Dinah McNicol
Dinah was 18 years old when she vanished in 1991. She and a friend had hitched a ride with an individual on the way back from a music festival. The friend was dropped off in Reigate, but Dinah was never seen again.
After her disappearance, money would be withdrawn from a bank account in her name to give the idea that she was still alive. But she wasn’t.
While looking for the body of Vicky Hamilton, police also found a second set of human remains. It was the body of Dinah McNicol.
But How Bad Could it Be?
But how bad could all of this be? Well, Tobin has boasted in jail that he has had up to 48 victims, but how much of that is him trying to inflate his own ego, or how many were victims of sexual assault and not murder is unknown.
A police investigation has been unable to pin down any specific crimes related to Tobin, but it would be hard to believe that he was only guilty of these three murders. After all, he was calm enough to move a body a huge distance. He was calm enough to run a number of aliases to avoid detection. He is known to have moved around the UK for decades.
This is one of those cases where we will never know the full extent of his crimes. Tobin sees it as a game, and this is his ace card, and it’s a card he will hold until his death.
