Editing Peter Tobin

{{Villain_Infobox
|Image = Peter Tobin.jpg
|fullname = Peter Britton Tobin
|alias = Peter Wilson<br>James Kelly<br>Paul Semple<br>John Tobin<br>Peter Proban<br>Pat McLaughlin
|origin = Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland
|occupation = Church handyman
|type of villain = Serial Killer
|goals = Get away with his crimes (failed)
|crimes = [[Serial murder]]<br>[[Rape]]<br>Burglary<br>[[Misogyny]]<br>Forgery<br>[[Domestic abuse]]
|hobby = Killing and raping}}'''Peter Britton Tobin''' (27 August 1946 - 8 October 2022) was a convicted Scottish serial killer and sex offender who received three sentences of life imprisonment with a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Though he was only ever convicted of the three murders, Tobin himself claimed to be responsible for 40 murders.

Prior to his first murder conviction, Tobin served ten years in prison for a double rape committed in 1993, following 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 Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in 2006. Skeletal remains of two teenagers who went missing in 1991 were subsequently found at his former home in Margate, 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 Dinah McNicol in December 2009, resulting in a whole life order.

Tobin has been labelled a psychopath by a senior psychologist, and by criminology professor David Wilson, who also wrote a book on Tobin connecting him with the [[Bible John]] murders of the late-1960s.

==Criminal history==
On 4 August 1993, Tobin attacked two 14-year-old girls at his flat in Leigh Park, Havant, after they called to visit a neighbour, who was not at home. They called at Tobin's flat and asked if they could wait there.

After holding them at knifepoint 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 the gas taps and left them for dead; but both of them survived the attack. To avoid arrest, Tobin went into hiding and joined the Jesus Fellowship, a religious sect, in Coventry, under a false name. He was later captured in Brighton, after his blue Austin Metro car was found there.

On 18 May 1994, at Winchester Crown Court, Tobin entered a plea of guilty and received a fourteen-year prison sentence. In 2004, Tobin, then 58 years old, was released from prison and returned to Paisley.

In September 2006, Tobin was working as a church handyman at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Anderston, Glasgow. He had 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 him in November 2005 after he moved from Paisley without notifying the police, but he was not discovered until he became a suspect in a murder case at the church. In May 2007, he received a further 30-month sentence for breaching the terms of the register.

Angelika Kluk, a 23-year-old 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 Gdańsk. She was last seen alive in the company of Tobin on 24 September 2006, and is thought to have been attacked by him in the garage attached to the presbytery. She was beaten, raped and stabbed, and her body was 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 29 September, and Tobin was arrested in London shortly afterwards. He had been admitted to hospital under a false name, and with a fictitious complaint.

In June 2007, Tobin's old house in Bathgate was searched in connection with the disappearance of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, who was last seen on 10 February 1991 as she waited for a bus home to Redding, near Falkirk. Tobin is believed to have left Bathgate for Margate a few weeks after her disappearance.

The investigation later led to a forensic search of a house in Southsea, Hampshire in early-October 2007, where Tobin is believed to have lived shortly after leaving Bathgate. On 14 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, were those of Hamilton.

Dinah McNicol, an 18-year-old sixth former from Tillingham, Essex, was last seen alive on 5 August 1991, hitchhiking home with a male companion from a music festival at Liphook, Hampshire. He was dropped off at Junction 8 of the M25, near Reigate, and she stayed in the car with the driver. She was never seen again. After her disappearance, regular withdrawals of £250 were made from her building society account at cash machines in Hampshire and Sussex, out of character for McNicol, who had told friends and family she intended to use the money in her building society account to travel, or further her education.

In late 2007, Essex Police reopened the investigation into McNicol's disappearance, following new leads. On 16 November 2007, a second body was found at 50 Irvine Drive in Margate, later confirmed by police to be that of McNicol.

==The Bible John connection==
Tobin's convictions led to speculation that he was Bible John, who operated in Glasgow in the 1960s. There are similarities between photographs of Tobin from that era and the photofit artist's impression of Bible John, and Tobin had moved from Glasgow in 1969, the same year as the killings officially ended. Another similarity is that eyewitnesses told police that the suspect had one tooth missing in his upper-right area of the mouth; dental records proved that Peter Tobin had a tooth removed around the late 1960s. Furthermore, it had been alleged that Tobin reacted violently to his victims' menstrual cycle, something which has long been suspected as the motive behind the Bible John murders.

Police have not commented upon any similarities, but said that any surviving forensic evidence will be rechecked. Although DNA had been used to rule out a previous suspect, detectives believe a DNA link to Tobin is unlikely due to a deterioration of the samples through poor storage.
[[Category:List]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Serial Killer]]
[[Category:Psychopath]]
[[Category:Elderly]]
[[Category:Perverts]]
[[Category:Imprisoned]]
[[Category:Faux Affably Evil]]
[[Category:Sadists]]
[[Category:Egotist]]
[[Category:Homicidal]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:Deaths in prison]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Destroyer of Innocence]]
[[Category:Cowards]]
[[Category:Fugitives]]
[[Category:Charismatic]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Thugs]]
[[Category:Misogynists]]
[[Category:Thief]]
[[Category:Abusers]]