PETER TOBIN, the convicted child rapist and killer already serving life sentences for the murders of two young women, was found guilty yesterday of killing a third, amid fears more victims could emerge.
A jury at the crown court in Chelmsford, east of London, took just 13 minutes – believed to be one of the shortest deliberations ever in a trial of this nature – to find Tobin (63) guilty of kidnapping, drugging and murdering 18-year-old Dinah McNicol, who disappeared in August 1991 as she hitchhiked home from a music festival.
Yesterday police released images of women’s jewellery found in Tobin’s possession which they believe he might have kept as trophies from unknown victims. Forces across Britain will now begin pursuing 1,400 separate outstanding lines of inquiry to try to piece together his movements since the 1960s. Among the 37 items recovered are watches, necklaces with religious pendants, diamond rings and a black leather purse carrying the word Lourdes.
More than a dozen unsolved murders are thought to have been examined again for possible links to Tobin, though officers have stressed there is no immediate evidence linking him at this stage.
Robin Merrett, assistant chief constable of Sussex police, in the south of England, who, under the codename Operation Anagram, is leading the national trawl for any further victims, appealed to the public to help identify the jewellery, which was in Tobin’s possession in 1991 and 2006.
David Swindle, detective superintendent at Strathclyde police, in southwest Scotland, said: “Peter Tobin has now been found guilty of the brutal murders of three young women. Who knows if he has killed others?
“We will continue to actively scrutinise his movements throughout his lifetime. No stone will be left unturned. If this takes years then so be it. If Peter Tobin dies, it will not mean that the investigation ends.”
Ms McNicol’s body was discovered in November 2007, tightly bound and gagged, wrapped in 16 heavy-duty refuse bags and buried under concrete in the garden of Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent, southeastern England. A few metres away, cut in two and also wrapped in bin bags, was the corpse of Vicky Hamilton (15), whom Tobin had abducted, raped and murdered in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, in February 1991. – (Guardian service)