True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Peter Tobin. Picture credit: kentlive) 

Concluded from part one and two 

Please be aware that distressing details are included in this post.

In 2006, Peter Tobin who was now calling himself ''Pat Mclaughlin'' was now working as a maintenance man at St Patrick's church. Nobody there had any idea of the horrendous background of this man amongst them. He was polite, friendly and would help anyone without even being asked, he was also easy to talk to. 

Some of the people who've been interviewed over the years about Peter Tobin have mentioned his ability to manipulate people, convince them that he is this caring, loving person but then once he thought that he had you where he wanted you, the mask would fall off and the real him would be revealed. 

Angelika Kluk was a beautiful 23 year old woman from Poland who was studying in Glasgow. Over the summer holidays she stayed at St Patrick's church where she would do some cleaning and helping out as a way of earning some extra money to send back to her family. It was only supposed to be a temporary job over the holidays. 

The monster who was calling himself Pat McLaughlin spotted Angelika and tried to befriend her by turning on his usual routine. Angelika was polite towards him but wasn't interested in him in any other way. Being a 23 year old women and him approaching 60 may have made her view him as a father like figure or a nicer, vulnerable older man. Peter Tobin would always use his heart condition to gain sympathy from people and to look at him, he does look frail but appearances can be deceptive.

He admired Angelika from afar but became obsessed with her and on Sunday the 24th of September 2006, he saw her alone and took the opportunity to viciously attack the young woman, he hit her over the head violently with a table leg, she fell to the ground instantly but was still conscious.

He then tied her hands together above her head, gagged and raped her before stabbing her to death and wrapping her body in plastic bags and taking her from the scene of the murder to inside the church where he put her body under the floorboards.

Why did he place her there? Looking back at Peter's background, maybe he was placing her there temporarily and planned to remove her at some point and dismember her remains?

After he carried out this evil act, he went to the kitchen in the church and helped prepare the Sunday lunch for the church members. He was still wearing the same clothes which contained traces of Angelika's blood and his semen.

Angelika was popular at the church and everyone found it strange that she hadn't joined them for lunch, they couldn't find her in her room and all of her belongings were still there. The next day she was reported missing. 

The police and forensic team began searching every inch of the church and taking statements. They interviewed Peter who put on a performance of being sympathetic and that he had no idea what was going on. Throughout this time that he knew what he had done and that Angelika's body was underneath the floorboards, he remained calm, chilled out and his usual self.

As the police were searching the church, Peter was outside building a shed and unbeknown to him and the investigators at the time, little microscopic traces of Angelika's blood were splattered on pieces of the shed. Peter was still wearing the same clothes. 

Peter knew the police were searching the area where Angelika's body was hidden and he took off, everyone was wondering where he was and it didn't take long for him to become their number one suspect.

Everyone else at the church had been questioned and accounted for but now Peter (Pat McLaughlin) was nowhere to be seen. The police managed to get hold of a recent photograph of Peter Tobin and launched a nationwide appeal for the public to help find out his whereabouts.

One of Peter's previous neighbours saw the appeal on the news and called the police to tell them that Pat McLaughlin was actually Peter Tobin.

At this time, Peter was hiding out in Edinburgh but soon travelled to London where he checked into a hospital under another alias ''James Kelly'' complaining of heart trouble. 

A nurse recognised his face from the photograph on the news and the police were contacted. Peter as taken back to Scotland for questioning and he was still wearing the same clothes which the police took as evidence.

Peter denied murdering Angelika. Angelika was finally found and investigators said that her hands were tied together and covered in blood, her top had been pulled up to expose her breasts, her trousers were also unbuttoned. Peter Tobin's semen had been found on her body which forensics had confirmed on the Monday matched with his DNA on their database.

Peter Tobin had used over 40 different aliases and between the year 2005 and 2006, he used 30 different mobile phones. The police decided to look into his background due to the brutal nature of Angelika's murder and the feeling that this was not just a one-off killing, they felt that he had done this before.

The investigation was called ''Operation Anagram'' and specialist investigators went through files and files of missing persons cases to see if there was a link to Peter Tobin.

What they found was shocking. They managed to link him to the murder of a young girl called Vicky Hamilton. Vicky had been visiting her sister in 1991 and was last seen waiting for a bus but seemed to have just vanished. It was the biggest missing persons case in Scotland and over 7,000 people were interviewed and the police took over 3,000 statements. 

The police obtained a warrant to search his house in Margate and they found a knife in the attic which contained a piece of Vicky's skin and DNA. They decided to dig up the back garden and on the 13th of November 2007 the police confirmed that they found the remains of Vicky Hamilton. 

Peter had abducted Vicky drugged and strangled her before cutting her body in half. He drove her remains 500 miles to Margate and buried her in his garden. 

On the 16th of November 2007, the police found the remains of Dinah McNicol, she had also been drugged and strangled. She had gone missing 6 months after Vicky and she was just 18 years old.

Dinah's body had been dismembered and her remains placed in 20 different plastic bags before being buried in the garden. Investigators found Peter Tobin's fingerprints on and in the bags.

Peter Tobin was already serving time in prison for the rape and murder of Angelika Kluk but now the police had charged him for the kidnap and murder of Vicky Hamilton. 

On the 3rd of November 2008 he went on trial for Vicky's murder, 21 days later he was found guilty. Just 30 weeks after this he went to trial for the murder of Dinah McNicol and was also found guilty. 

During the search of his house, the police found a huge collection of women's jewelry. The police believe this to be ''trophies'' from some of Peter Tobin's victims and because of the way he carried out the murders and disposed of the bodies whilst keeping up the appearance of being calm and collected, it is believed that he may have been responsible for many more deaths and quite possibly be the worst serial killer the UK has ever seen.

Because of his ability to move around the UK, the different addresses, over 40 aliases and his constant forgery of documents, it's hard for investigators to track his full background but they are still looking into him.

Professor David Wilson, who I greatly admire has gone into detail about Peter Tobin many times and has written a book with Paul Harrison titled The Lost British Serial Killer 

David Wilson's theory is that Peter Tobin is Bible John the unidentified serial killer who murdered three women in Glasgow in the 1960s. The Bible John case has a Jack The Ripper vibe to it because for decades people have had theories about who this man was and where he could be now or when he could have possibly died. Like Jack The Ripper, it's a conversation that could go on and on with people having their various opinions.

Do I believe that Peter Tobin was Bible John? I don't want to make an opinion until I have read David Wilson and Paul Harrison's book, I'm interested to know how they've made the connection.

I also think it's important to include these pieces of information I found whilst doing my research. Margaret, Peter's first wife who he had abused so terribly mentioned in an interview that Peter would not allow her to use sanitary protection whilst she was on her period. Peter would force Margaret to have sex on her period. Bible John's victims had all been on their periods the time of their murders.

Peter Tobin also claimed in prison that he has murdered at least 48 people but has refused to give the police any further information.

Going by Peter Tobin's methods, I believe David Wilson's belief that Peter is responsible for far more deaths than we know of. 

Peter Tobin will never be released from prison and is now 73 years old. He has been reported in the press to have cancer and rarely leaves his prison cell because he is so frail. It's also been reported that he has a romantic relationship with a cross-dressing paedophile.

My heart goes out to the families of Angelika, Vicky, Dinah. I also think about Angelika, Vicky and Dinah, wondering what would have became of them if they had not had their lives cruelly stolen by such a monster.

I think about the unknown victims and the families out there who are still searching for answers.

If you have any information about Peter Tobin, no matter how small, contact your local police station.

RIP Angelika, Vicky and Dinah,

Thank you for reading my three part series on Peter Tobin, if you have any thoughts you would like to share on this case, please leave a comment below or come and chat to me about it on social media 

UPDATE: Peter Tobin passed away in an Edinburgh hospital on the 8th of October 2022.  As I previously mentioned, he'd had a history of health problems especially to do with his heart. He was 76 years old. There was no funeral and his remains were cremated and scattered at sea with no family members in attendance. Peter Tobin died taking many of his dark secrets to the grave. 

Further reading & sources:

- Peter Tobin - Wikipedia

Much Love, see you in my next case x