Peter Tobin: Who was serial killer? Who did Peter Tobin kill? Could he be Bible John?

Scottish serial killer Peter Tobin has died after becoming unwell at the Edinburgh prison where he was serving three life sentences – here’s everything we know about the notorious murderer.

How did Tobin die?

Tobin, who had cancer, died after becoming unwell at the Capital’s Saughton Prison, where he was serving three life sentences.

Earlier this week, he was taken from HMP Edinburgh to be the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where he died on Saturday (October 8).

Serial killer Peter Tobin has died after becoming unwell at the Edinburgh prison where he was serving three life sentences.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 6.04am on Saturday, October 8, 2022, officers attended at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh following the death of a 76-year-old man.

“The death is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”

Tobin refused to give police details about the further murders they think he committed as they questioned him before his death.

Who is Peter Tobin?

The victims of serial killer Peter Tobin (left - right) Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.

Tobin, 76 years old when he died, was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire.

He moved to Brighton and married his first wife in 1969, though they divorced in 1971. He remarried in 1973 though that relationship also broke down a few years later.

In 1990 he moved to Bathgate with his third wife, though she left him that year. Tobin’s wives all described him as turning violent and showing a “sadistic streak”.

In 1991 he moved to Margate, Kent, and by 1993 he was living in Hampshire. That year he sexually assaulted and raped two teen girls and was jailed the following year.

During his life Tobin used dozens of aliases.

Police search a pond near the former home of Peter Tobin in Bathgate June 4, 2007 in Bathgate as part of the inquiry into Vicky Hamilton’s disappearance.

Who is Tobin known to have murdered?

Angelika Kluk

Polish church volunteer Angelika Kluk was murdered by Tobin in Glasgow

In 2007 Tobin was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years for the murder of Angelika Kluk, 23, in 2006 in Glasgow. The sentence came just three years after his release from prison over the double rape conviction.

He had been working as a handyman at St Patrick’s Church Anderston, Glasgow, going by the name of Pat McLaughlin. Miss Kluk, who was from Poland, also worked at the church as a cleaner to finance her studies and was staying in the presbytery.

The last time Miss Kluk was seen alive was on 24 September, 2006 - where she was in the company of Tobin.

Her body was found by police on 29 September concealed in an underground chamber near the confessional of the church. Miss Kluk had been beaten, raped and stabbed.

Tobin was arrested in London shortly after Miss Kluk’s body was found.

Vicky Hamilton

Vicky Hamilton was abducted by Tobin in Bathgate as she made her way home to Redding

Tobin murdered the 15-year-old in his Bathgate home as she travelled to Redding, near Falkirk, after visiting a relative in Livingston in February 1991.

Miss Hamilton had last been seen on 10 February 1991 as she waited for a bus home. Her disappearance sparked on of Scotland’s biggest missing person inquiries.

After Tobin’s conviction for Miss Kluk’s murder, his Bathgate home was searched. In November 2007 Miss Hamilton’s remains were discovered buried in the garden of Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent. Tobin was convicted of Miss Hamilton’s murder in 2008 taking his minium sentence to 30 years.

Dinah McNicol

Student Dinah McNicol was hitching a lift when Tobin abducted and murdered her

On 16 November, 2007 Miss McNicol’s remains were also found at the property in Margate.

The 18-year-old from Tillingham, Essex, had last been seen on 5 August, 1991, when she had been hithchiking home with a male friend. They had accepted a lift from a man and her friend was dropped off at junction 8 on the M25.

Miss McNicol was never seen again, though withdrawals were made from her building society account from cash machines in Hampshire and Sussex after her disappearance.

After being found guilty in 2009 of murdering Miss McNicol, Tobin’s sentence was increased and he was serving three life sentences.

Could he be linked to the Bible John murders?

There has been an ongoing theory Tobin could be the killer dubbed Bible John who was responsible for the murders of three women in Glasgow between 1968 and 1969.

The women were all brunettes aged between 25 and 32 years old and had met their killer at the Barrowland Ballroom. The killer became known as Bible John due to having repeatedly quoted from the bible.

Tobin has reportedly denied being responsible for the murders.

And the former lead detective David Swindle who worked to capture Tobin previously told the Scotsman: “At the end of the day the police need evidence, and there’s absolutely nothing to link Tobin to Bible John… People say the link is, oh well he went to the Barrowland at the same time, but so did hundreds and hundreds of other people – there’s no real evidence or links to Tobin.”

The Sun reported recently the dad of Vicky Hamilton, Michael, said he did not believe Tobin is BIble John, and thinks the killer is “probably dead”.

Though speaking of Tobin, he said: “Plenty of murders haven’t been solved yet — and I believe Tobin had to do with a lot of them.”

Has he been linked to other cases?

Operation Anagram was a nationwide police investigation into Tobin’s life and movements. The investigation began in 2006, after his first murder conviction. By July 2010 it was reported officers had narrowed their review down to nine unsolved murders and disappearances.

However, the operation was wound down in 2011.

Several cases have been investigated for links to the serial killer. Among them, the disappearance of 18-year-old Louise Kay from Beachy Head in Eastbourne during 1988.

She was never seen again after telling a friend she was going to sleep in her car at Beachy Head after an evening with friends, something she had done previously. Her Ford Fiesta car was also never seen again.

Operation Anagram established Tobin had been working in a hotel in Eastbourne at the time she disappeared, he was also said to have been selling a small hand painted car after her disappearance.

The case of Jessie Earl has also been looked at for links to Tobin. Miss Earl disappeared in 1980. Her body was found in undergrowth at Beachy Head near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in 1989 – nine years after she vanished from her nearby bedsit.

A second inquest into the 22-year-old’s death, heard that she was “probably” tied to a tree and “possibly” sexually assaulted. The coroner at the inquest ruled her death was murder.

Written arguments discussed at a previous hearing said that convicted serial killer Peter Tobin, was “suspected of having been at large in the Eastbourne area during the 1980s”.

It was also said a DNA profile from Ms Earl’s parents was compared to unidentified DNA in relation to operation Anagram investigating Tobin, but this produced no matches.