Police believe Peter Tobin may be prolific serial killer

Dec 24 2009 West Lothian Courier

POLICE officers investigating Peter Tobin’s crimes believe he may be a prolific serial killer.

And officers are now restarting Operation Anagram, tracing Tobin's past movements and examining whether he is responsible for any other unsolved crimes.

Detective Superintendent David Swindle, who led the Angelika Kluk murder inquiry in 2006, said he believes Tobin has claimed more victims.

On Tuesday night he made a televised appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme and described the response from the public as “phenomenal”.

Det Supt Swindle said: “The fact of his age and the method of [Angelika's] killing, and all the other factors surrounding Tobin, made us think this guy's done this before.

“It was also while interviewing relatives of Tobin that we got indications that Tobin may have been involved in other crimes.”

After the Angelika Kluk case, Det Supt Swindle set up Operation Anagram, which led to the discovery of the bodies of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton and 18-year-old Dinah McNicol – who had both disappeared in 1991.

And after last week’s conviction, police are recommencing Operation Anagram, which will date back to the 1960s.

As part of the operation, police are also understood to be re-examining the murders of three women, all believed to have been killed by ‘Bible John’.

They have also released pictures of women's jewellery, including pendants, necklaces and brooches, found in Tobin's possession in 1991 and 2006 and are appealing to anyone who met Tobin in the past under any of his various aliases to come forward with information.

The detective said on Crimewatch that Tobin has used sex workers and in his early days was a member of biker gangs.

Police said he also hid in hospitals twice to avoid arrest – once after the 1993 sexual assault of two 14-year-old girls in Havant, and once after he murdered Angelika Kluk in Glasgow.

Tobin has a heart complaint and has been admitted to a number of hospitals around the UK, including Gartnavel, Glasgow, in 1970, St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, in 1993, and the National Hospital, London, in 2006.

He has lived in many different UK towns and cities including Largs in Ayrshire, Turiff in Aberdeenshire, Norfolk, Ramsgate and Bournemouth and has used several different aliases.

Det Supt Swindle added: “We owe it to the families of the victims, and the police will continue to see if we can link Tobin to other outstanding crimes or missing persons.”