The 76-year-old serial killer Peter Tobin has passed away in a hospital.
In 2006, he was convicted of raping and murdering 23-year-old Polish student Angelika Kluk and concealing her body beneath the floor of a Glasgow church.
In addition, he was serving life sentences at HMP Edinburgh for the murders of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton and 18-year-old Dinah McNicol.
Saturday at 06:04, according to Police Scotland, police were dispatched to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in response to the death of a 76-year-old male.
According to them, the death is not being viewed as suspicious, and a report will be sent to the prosecutor general.
Additionally, police reported that attempts were made near the end of Tobin’s life to elicit information regarding his victims.
Chief of major crime, Det Ch Supt. Laura Thomson, stated: “Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and friends of Peter Tobin.
“Recent efforts to persuade him to do the right thing and provide any information that could aid the authorities were futile.
We appreciate any information regarding Peter Tobin’s activities, even though we have no active lines of investigation into his activities.
A publication said one month ago that Tobin was “shackled to a hospital bed” and shown in a hospital gown, appearing gravely ill.
The Sunday Mail said that the perpetrator had cancer and had fallen and fractured his hip. It was stated that he refused meals and medication.
Tobin was transported from HMP Edinburgh to the city’s Royal Infirmary in January after he became ill.
And in February 2016, he was reportedly carried by ambulance to the Royal Infirmary after collapsing in his cell.
Tobin was not identified as a serial killer until 2006, when his final victim, Angelika Kluk, was discovered hiding beneath the floorboards of a church in Glasgow.
His arrest sparked a nationwide inquiry that finally led to the discovery of the skeletal remains of two adolescent females.
In February of 1991, 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton vanished while traveling to her home just outside of Falkirk. And 18-year-old Dinah McNicol from Essex was last seen after hitching a ride with Tobin during a music event in August of that year.
The remains of both daughters were discovered 16 years later in the garden of Tobin’s previous home in Margate, Kent.
Lindsay Brown, Vicky Hamilton’s sister, stated that living with what transpired cast a “black shade” on the family.
She said: “We hoped that now that Tobin is gone, the shadow will eventually fade and we can remember Vicky as the sweet, loving sister she was, rather than focusing on what we no longer have and what was taken from us.
“He robbed us of a big sister, nieces, and nephews, and a life with Vicky in addition to her life.”
The Hamilton family announced via social media that they would not be celebrating Tobin’s passing.
We remember her laughter
It said: “We remember Vicky, her joy, and her smile, and we wish to preserve that memory after all the years of not knowing what happened to her, followed by the sadness of losing our mother shortly after Vicky disappeared.
“He no longer merits our family’s consideration.
“If he has taken other victims, our hearts go out to their families, and we can only hope they receive the closure they so desperately need one day.
We will remember Vicky, Angelika, and Dinah, in addition to any more victims, and respectfully request that others do the same.
Former Strathclyde Police detective David Swindle, who led the investigation into Peter Tobin, stated that he did not doubt that Tobin had murdered further individuals.
“This person has no regard for mankind,” he stated.
A specific variety of hell
I witnessed a moment I will never forget in the days following the discovery of Peter Tobin’s first victim.
The police discovered 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton buried behind the former Margate residence of Tobin.
When I was interviewing Ian McNicol, whose daughter Dinah had been missing for sixteen years, I received news that they had discovered a second body.
Ian raised his hand, crossed his fingers, and pleaded, “Please be Dinah…and save us from this pain” as the camera rolled.
Consider that.
Imagine wishing that your daughter was buried in a shallow grave in the shadow of the murderer’s old home.
Families of victims afflicted by serial killers like Tobin endure a unique type of anguish.
Vicky and Dinah went missing in different parts of the United Kingdom within six months of each other in 1991.
They were discovered only after Tobin had killed again. His murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow prompted a nationwide police investigation that ultimately led to the backyard of Irvine Drive in Margate.
For sixteen years, Dinah and Vicky’s families were completely unaware of their whereabouts.
Without a body, there could be no funeral, no grave to visit, and no hope for anything even closely like closure, if such a thing is ever conceivable in such circumstances.
Vicky’s mother passed away two years after her daughter disappeared. According to her family, she died of a shattered heart.
When the girls were located, their relatives were relieved because they finally learned the truth, regardless of how horrific it was. They had recovered them and could now lay them to rest.
The detectives who investigated Tobin believe he had further victims. He targeted young ladies and girls when they were vulnerable and concealed his misdeeds.
When he murdered Vicky and Dinah, he was in his forties, an extraordinarily late age for a serial murderer to begin committing murders.
If the police are correct, Tobin might have shared his secrets and provided some solace to other families had he done so.
But he would not have spent a moment’s thought for Dinah’s father or any of his victims’ families.
In that man’s filthy and vicious soul, only darkness existed.
