A Dark City

Peter Tobin

• Bryan • Episode 2

Share episode

Could Peter Tobin be Scotland's most elusive and prolific criminal? Unravel the chilling tale of this convicted serial killer and sex offender as we explore the depths of his sinister past and his potential ties to unsolved cases that have haunted the nation for decades. From his early life and volatile relationships to his shocking transformation into a brutal murderer, we expose Tobin's dark legacy and the relentless pursuit for justice that sought to bring his crimes to light. You'll discover how he navigated through society, evading capture by assuming a false identity within a religious sect and how his eventual crimes sparked an exhaustive investigation known as Operation Anagram.

This episode casts a shadow over the possible connections between Tobin and a series of unsolved murders that continue to stir fear and fascination. Was Tobin linked to the mysterious deaths of Dorothea Meakin, Patricia Morris, and Pamela Hastie, or the brutal slaying of solicitor Janice Weston? We also delve into the enduring mystery of the Bible John murders and examine why, despite speculation, Tobin was ruled out as a suspect. As we reflect on his turbulent time in prison and his eventual death in 2022, brace yourself for an unsettling journey through the complexities of this notorious criminal's life and the unresolved cases that might still bear his mark.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to A Dark City, the podcast that delves into the shadowy underbelly of Glasgow, a city with a storied past and a reputation for resilience. Here we uncover the chilling true stories of serious crimes that have left their mark on the city's history, from notorious gangland wars to unsolved mysteries. Join us as we explore the darker side of Glasgow and the people whose lives were forever changed by its crimes. Peter Tobin was a convicted serial killer and sex offender who served a whole life order at HM Prison in Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Police also investigated Tobin over the deaths and disappearances of other young women and girls. Tobin served 10 years in prison for the rape and indecent assault of two girls in 1993, falling which he was released in 2004. Three years after his release, he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years for the rape and murder of Angelica Kluck in Glasgow in 2006. Remains of two teenagers who went missing in 1991 were subsequently found at his former home in Margate and Kent. Tobin was convicted of the murder of Vicky Hamilton in December 2008, resulting in his minimum sentence being increased to 30 years, and of the murder of Diana McNichol in 2009, resulting in a whole life order. Tobin was diagnosed as a psychopath by a senior psychologist and it was thought he might be connected with the Bible John murders in the late 1960s. Although police eventually ruled him out of his murders, tobin reportedly claimed in prison to a psychiatrist of having murdered 48 other people.

Speaker 1:

Peter Tobin was born in Johnston, renfrewshire, on 27 August 1946, the youngest of eight children to Daniel and Marjorie Tobin. He had four older sisters and three older brothers. Tobin was a difficult child and in 1953, at age of seven, he was sent to an approved school. Tobin later served a sentence in a boar stall and in 1970 was convicted and imprisoned in England for robbery and forgery. Tobin moved to Brighton in England where he married his 17-year-old girlfriend, margaret Mountney, a clerk and typist, in August 1969. They separated after a year and she divorced him in 1971.

Speaker 1:

In 1973, tobin married a local nurse, 30-year-old Sylvia Jeffries. The couple had a son named Ian later that year and a daughter named Claire in 1975, the latter of whom died soon after birth. Daughter named Claire in 1975, the latter of whom died soon after birth. This second marriage lasted until 1976, when Sylvia left him with their son. Tobin then had a relationship with Kathy Wilson. The couple married in 1989, with a son named Daniel Bourne. Later that year, in 1990, they moved to Bathgate in West Lothian. Wilson left Tobin in 1990 and moved back to Portsmouth in Hampshire. That's where she'd grown up. All three wives later gave similar accounts of falling for a charming, well-dressed psychopath who turned violent and displayed a sadistic streak during their marriages.

Speaker 1:

In May 1991, tobin moved to Margate in Kent and in 1993 he moved to Hampshire to be near his younger son. On the 4th of August 1993, tobin attacked two 14-year-old girls at his flat in Lee Park Cavern after they went to visit a neighbour who was not home. They stopped at Tobin's flat and asked if they could wait there. After holding them at knife point and forcing them to drink strong cider and vodka, tobin sexually assaulted and raped the girls, stabbing one of them whilst his younger son was present. He then turned on a gas cooker without lighting it and left them for dead, but they both survived the attack. To avoid the rest, tobin went into hiding and joined the Jesus Fellowship, a religious sect in Coventry, under a false name. He was later captured and brightened after his blue horse and metro car was found there. On 18 May 1994, at Winchester Crown Court, tobin entered a plea of guilty and received a 14-year sentence In 2004,. Tobin, then 58 years old, was released from prison and returned to Paisley in Renfrewshire.

Speaker 1:

In September 2006, tobin was working as a church handyman at St Patrick's Church in Anderson, glasgow. He assumed the name of Pat McLaughlin to avoid detection as he was still on the violent and sex offender register following his 1994 convictions for rape and assault. An arrest warrant had been issued for Tobin in November 2005 after he'd moved from Paisley without notifying the police, but he was not discovered until he became a suspect in the murder of 23-year-old Angelika Kluk at the church. In May 2007,. He received a further 30-month sentence for breaching the terms of the register.

Speaker 1:

Angelika, a student from Poland, was staying at the presbytery of St Patrick's Church where she worked as a cleaner to help finance her Scandinavian studies course at the University of Gdansk. She was last seen alive in the company of Tobin on 24th September 2006, and it is thought to have been tacked by him in the garage attached to the presbytery. Cluck was beaten, raped and stabbed and her body was concealed in an underground chamber beneath the floor near the confessional in the church. Concealed in an underground chamber beneath the floor near the confessional in the church. Forensic evidence suggested that she was still alive when she was placed under the floorboards. Police found her body on 29th September and Tobin was arrested in London shortly afterwards. He had been admitted to hospital under a false name, with a fictitious complaint. A six-week trial resulted from the evidence gathered under the supervision of Detective Superintendent David Swindle of Strathclyde Police and took place at the High Court in Edinburgh between 23 March and 4 May 2007. The trial judge was Lord Menzies. The prosecution was led by Advocate Deputy Dorothy Bain and the defence by Donald Finlay QC. Tobin was found guilty of raping and murdering Cluck and was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 21 years. In sentencing Tobin, judge Lord Menzies described him as an evil man.

Speaker 1:

Operation Anagram was a nationwide police investigation into Tobin's life and movements. The investigation started in 2006 after his first murder conviction led by DSI Swindle of Strathclyde Police, and increased in intensity in 2009 after Tobin's third conviction. It aimed to trace Tobin's past movements and possible involvement in 13 unsolved murders, including the three victims of the unidentified killer Bible John. Tobin is reported to have claimed 48 victims and both made in prison. Through the Holmes the Sound database, police forces across the UK were involved in the operation investigating the possibility of Tobin's connection to dozens of murders and disappearances. Teenage girls and young women Swindle, speaking after Tobin's 2006 conviction for the murder of Cluck, said that Tobin's age and the method of the murders sparked speculation that he may be a serial killer, as did interviews with Tobin. Anagram led to the discovery of the bodies of Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNichol. It is believed that, as of December 2009, detectives across the UK were following up on up to 1,400,000 of inquiries. As part of their renewed inquiries, police were specifically interested in tracing the owners of jewellery items found at his residences. In 2009, police released photographs of 32 pieces of jewellery that they found which were in Tobin's possession between 1991 and 2006, which authorities believed to be mementos Tobin collected during his criminal career. In July 2010, it was reported that officers working on Operation Anagram had narrowed their review down to nine unsolved murders and disappearances. The operation was wound down in June 2011,.

Speaker 1:

Having failed to identify any more victims, in June 2007, tobin's former house in Bathgate was searched in connection with the disappearance of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, who was last seen on the 10th of February 1991 as she waited for a bus home to Reading, near Falkirk. Tobin is believed to have left Bathgate for Margate a few weeks after her disappearance. On the 24th of July 2007, lothian and Borders Police released a statement that they had arrested, cautioned and charged a male in connection with that matter, and the report had been submitted to the procurator for school, but did not immediately confirm the identity of the man arrested. The investigation later led to a forensic search of a house in Margate in early October 2007, where Tobin is believed to have lived shortly after leaving Bathgate. On the 14th of November 2007, lothian and Borders Police confirmed that human remains found in the back garden of 50 Irvine Drive, a house in Margate occupied by Tobin in 1991, where there was Hamilton.

Speaker 1:

In November 2008, tobin was tried at a high court in Dundee for Hamilton's murder. He was again defended by Donald Findlay, while the prosecution was led by the Solicitor General for Scotland, frank Mulholland QC. Prosecution case went beyond the circumstantial evidence of Tobin having lived at the two houses in Bathgate and Margate in 1991, and consisted of eyewitness testimony and suspicious behaviour by Tobin in Bathgate, evidence to destroy his alibi, and DNA and fingerprints left on a dagger found at his former home, on Hamilton's purse and on the shooting in which her body was wrapped. After a month-long trial, tobin was convicted of Hamilton's murder on 2 December 2008. When sentenced in Tobin to life imprisonment, the judge said he was convicted of a truly evil abduction and murder of a vulnerable young girl in 1991, and thereafter of attempting to defeat the ends of justice in various ways over an extended period. Yet again, you have shown yourself to be unfit to live in a decent society. It is hard for me to convey the loathing and revulsion that ordinary people will feel for what you have done. I fixed the minimum period which you must spend in custody at thirty years. Had it been open to me, I would have made that period run consecutive to the twenty-oneyear custodial period that you are already serving. On 11 December 2008, tobin gave notice to court officials that he intended to challenge the verdict and overturn the sentence imposing him. The appeal was dropped in March 2009.

Speaker 1:

Dina McNicol, an 18-year-old sixth-former from Tillingham in Essex, was last seen alive on the 5th of August 1991, hitchhiking home with a male friend from a music festival in the Liphook. While hitchhiking accepted a lift from a male subject. Her friend was dropped off at Junction 8 of the M25 near Reegate While McNichol stayed in the car with the driver. She was never seen again. After her disappearance, regular withdrawals were made from her building society account at Cash Machines in Hampshire in Sussex. Out of character for McNichol, her two friends and family that she intended to use that money to travel or further her education.

Speaker 1:

In late 2007, essex Police reopened the investigation into McNicol's disappearance following new leads. On 15 November 2007, a second body was found at 50 Irvine Drive in Margate, later confirmed by police to be that of McNicol. On 1 September 2008, the Crown Prosecution Service served a summons on Tobin's solicitors, accusing him of her murder. This new trial began in June 2009, but was postponed, and the jury discharged in the following month after the surgery with Tobin was not fit to stand trial pending surgery, the case resumed on the 14th of December 2009 at Chelmsford Crown Court on the 14th of December 2009 at Chelmsford Crown Court. On the 16th of December, after the defence had offered no evidence, a jury found Tobin guilty of McNicoll's murder after deliberating for less than 15 minutes, and Tobin subsequently received his third life sentence. This was then upgraded to a whole life order.

Speaker 1:

Tobin was linked to the disappearance of 18-year-old Louise Kay from Beachy Head in Eastbourne during 1988. Kay 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 that she'd done previously. Neither Kay nor her gold-folded face the car with a white door have ever been seen since Operation Anagram established that Tobin was working in a hotel at Eastbourne at the time of her disappearance and learned that he was selling a small hand-painted car after she vanished. Tobin had history working with dealing cars for an auction company and also links to scrapyards. It is thought Tobin could have repainted Kay's car and then sold it on to hide his crime. Kay had met a mysterious Scottish man shortly before she disappeared and it was known that he had given her money for petrol for her car. Kay's case featured on Crimewatch in 1994. Swindle stated in 2018 that he believes that Tobin killed Kay. Detectives investigated whether Tobin was responsible, but could never prove his involvement. At the time of disappearance, tobin owned the property 22 Windosham Road in Brighton. The house and its garden have never been searched for remains. Operation Anagram ordered the search of two houses that Tobin had owned in Brighton in relation to the search for Kay, but did not search the Window Sham Road property. Former police officer and investigator, mark Williams Thomas stated in a documentary in 2018, part of his Investigator a British crime story series, that he believes the body of Kay is still buried in the garden of that property.

Speaker 1:

The murder of 22-year-old JC Arrow in 1980 was also reinvestigated by Operation Anagram. Arrow had also disappeared from Eastbourne and her skeletonised body was found in 1989, concealed in dense shrubland on Beachy Head, a place she would often take walks and the same place Louise Kay had vanished from in 1988. Her own bra had been tied around her hands to restrain her. As with Kay, tobin was living in the area at the time of her murder and was possibly working as a handyman at the Holy Trinity Church in Eastbourne at the time she disappeared. Aro was known to have been nervous about a man she'd met while previously out walking and had reportedly described meeting a middle-aged Scottish man near the same spot. Her body was found.

Speaker 1:

Shortly after the discovery of Arrow's body became public knowledge in 1989, tobin hurriedly moved with his wife and child a great distance to Bathgate, scotland, without prior discussion with his wife and child a great distance to Bathgate, scotland, without prior discussion with his wife of these plans, which suggested he had underlying reason to suddenly leave the area. This was notably similar to how Tobin had suddenly moved a great distance from Bathgate to Margate in 1991, shortly after he murdered 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton in Bathgate, which showed how Tobin had a habit of moving across the country to avoid being detected for crimes. Said committee, this was further suggested to be the case in Arrow's murder, as Tobin was found to have checked into hospital in Glasgow a few days after she was killed, which again fitted his habit of moving as far away as possible after committing a murder. In 2012, criminologist David Wilson produced a documentary as part of his Killers Behind Bars the Untold Story series, in which he made his case to support the theory that Arrow was a likely victim of Tobin. In Mark Williams' Thomas 2018 documentary on Louise Kay, he also supported the theory that Tobin could be responsible for Arrow's death after linking her case to a case disappearance. The Operation Anagram also investigated and, in some cases, disproved links between Tobin and other murders and disappearances, including 13-year-old April Fab, who disappeared on 8 April 1969 while cycling between Meton and Norfolk and Ruffden and Norfolk, and has not been seen since. Although the case has also been linked to Robert Black, he had no known links to Norfolk, whereas Tobin is known to have regularly holidayed in the region.

Speaker 1:

Then there's the case of 37-year-old housewife and nurse Dorothea Meakin disappeared on her way home in Kirkland Newt Crescent on 28 February 1971, having attended a family party. She was found six weeks later raped and strangled, and her naked body partially buried in the vicinity of a bridge spanning railway tracks between Clark Street and McClure Avenue in Renfrew, where Tobin grew up. Clothes and handbag were missing. Richard Coughborough, who died in 2008 at the age of 74, was found guilty of Dorothea's murder on his 2nd of July 1971. However, coughborough denied committing the crime and always protested his innocence in this case. Tobin's former neighbours in the area were interviewed by police in 2008.

Speaker 1:

The decapitated body of an unknown woman, believed to have been killed in early August, was found wrapped in a sheet in Norfolk on 27th August 1974. The woman was never identified, but the sheet she was wrapped in was found to have been one of only six sheets sold by a Scottish company between 1962 and 1968, a period when Tobin was known to be living in Glasgow. Tobin had also used plastic sheeting to wrap up the bodies of Vicky Hamilton and Dina McNichol and to hide Angelica Cloak's body. He was known to have previously used a knife to dismember victims, such as with Vicky Hamilton and Dina McNichol's legs had been bound in a similar way to the unknown victims. After Tobin's mother convictions, the body was exhumed in a failed attempt to identify the woman or the killer.

Speaker 1:

Norfolk police say there are no links between Tobin and the Norfolk cases and police are working on a theory that the woman was a sex worker nicknamed the Duchess, who went missing in 1974. On 30 March 1979, 17-year-old Yvette Ann Watson went missing from the David Rice Hospital Mental Health Unit in Norwich where she was being treated for depression. She has not been seen since. In 2009, norfolk police said it had investigated the possibility that Yvette may have been a victim of Tobin, but found no links. Vette may have been a victim of Tobin, but found no links. However, excerpts from her diary include an entry on Monday, the 20th of March 1978, a year before she vanished, which made reference to a Mr Tobin.

Speaker 1:

Fourteen-year-old Patricia Morris vanished on 16th of June 1980 during a lunch break from her school in Felton and was later found strangled to death in bushes nearby. In 2011, there was media speculation that Morris' mother could be linked to Tobin and Morris' father said he believed Tobin could be responsible. Although Patricia Morris' mother was reportedly re-investigated by Anagram, the case was subsequently linked to Levi Belfield. Hadd Morris was his childhood girlfriend at the time and he allegedly confessed to her murder in 2008. On 4th November 1981, the bloodshed and strangled body of 16-year-old Pamela Hastie was found in Rannoch Woods in Johnston. As she made her way through Rannoch Woods near her home, pamela's attacker strangled her with a length of twine, after striking her on the head with a piece of wood and dragging her into the bushes, hasty had been raped. Links to Tobin were investigated as Johnston was Tobin's birthplace. At 9am on 11th September 1983, the fully clothed body of an unidentified white female was found in a ditch adjacent to a lay-by on an off-bunk carriageway of the A1 Road south of Brampton Hutt Roundabout in Cranbershire. The body, which had several headwinds caused by a blunt object, was identified as that of Janice Weston, a 36-year-old solicitor from London and partner of a well-established firm based in Lincoln's Inn in the city. She was last seen alive at her office on a previous day. Her blood-stained silver Alfa Romeo was found four days later in Camden Town, london.

Speaker 1:

Tobin's convictions led to speculation in the late 2000s that he was Bible John, a serial killer who murdered three young women in Glasgow in the 60s Patricia Docker, jemima MacDonald and Helen Putock. Had been alleged that Tobin reacted violently to the victim's menstruation, something that has long been suspected as a motive behind the Bible John murders. Tobin has since been eliminated as a suspect by police. Tobin moved from Glasgow to Brighton with his fiancée, margaret Mountaney, before the second murder attributed to Bible John. Operation Anagram found that Tobin was in Brighton at the time of the final two Bible John murders. He had married his first wife in Brighton on August 6th 1969, ten days before Bible John's August 16th murder of Jemima MacDonald. As recorded on their marriage certificate, he was still living in Brighton at the time of the third murder, meaning he would have had to have travelled without his wife's knowledge to Glasgow and back from Brighton to have committed the murder of Helen Putock, bible John's third victim.

Speaker 1:

Although DNA had been used to rule out a previous suspect, detectives initially believed that a DNA linked to Tobin would be unlikely due to the deterioration of the samples through poor storage. Tobin's DNA was ultimately checked against the semen stain on Putok's tights as part of Operation Anagram, which was the only remaining forensic evidence in the Bible John case. The results of this analysis ultimately proved that the semen was not sourced from Tobin. The police also have a record of a bite mark that was found on Helen Puttock's body, which they can cross-check with Tobin's dental records, as had been done with John McInnes when he was exhumed and subsequently eliminated as a suspect in 1996. Although contemporary photos of Tobin showed he did not have red tail like Bible John was described to have had, swindow has stated that there is no evidence linked Tobin to the Bible John murders and Operation Anagram eventually discounted this theory.

Speaker 1:

On the 9th of August 2012, tobin was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after suffering chest pains and a suspected heart attack at HM Prison in Edinburgh. At the same prison on the 1st of July 2015, he was slashed with a razor blade in his sleep, leaving a 20-sympiometer scar around down his face and neck. His cellmate, 31-year-old double rapist, sean Moynihan, pleaded guilty to the attack in October and was sentenced to 32 more months in prison in February 2016. Tobin was hospitalised again following a suspected stroke in 2019. He was reported to be frail and suffering from cancer. He was taken to hospital again on 30 March 2022 and released two days later. Tobin died at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 8 October 2022, at the age of 76. No-transcript.