Peter Tobin’s books could give ‘hope’ for answers to unsolved crimes

The notorious serial killer, from Johnstone, spent his final days chained to a hospital bed riddled with cancer while continuing to deny closure to the families of potential victims.

The 76-year-old monster was serving three life sentences for the murder of 15-year-old Scots schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, in Glasgow, and Dinah McNicol, 18, in Essex.

Peter Tobin's victims (Image: Peter Tobin's victims)

Police believe he had many other victims that were tortured and murdered, but Tobin refused to speak about these cases.

After he died in October 2022, detectives sealed off his cell at HMP Edinburgh and began to examine his personal items, reports The Sunday Mail.

Now his items including his “favourite books” can be claimed by his family, reports The Sunday Mail.

They will be held in storage for up to three years but will then be destroyed if no one comes forward for them.

A source told The Sunday Mail: "It’s tempting to say that anything belonging to Peter Tobin should be wiped off the face of the earth after what he did and the misery he caused.

"But Tobin has always been suspected of many more crimes than those he was convicted of and there is always hope that something belonging to him could potentially lead to something one day."

Police dug for evidence (Image: Sourced)

Former detective David Swindle, looked at more than 1000 leads on Tobin, tracked down over 40 places where he had lived, and delved into any links they could find with unsolved murders or missing women in those areas.

They narrowed the list to nine unsolved crimes and missing person cases that they believed involved Tobin.

Police believe Tobin had more victims (Image: PA)

But despite pleading with the psychotic killer to give closure to their families, he refused to ever confess further crimes.

Our sister title The Glasgow Times previously reported how two stood out – the deaths of Jessie Earl, in 1980, and Louise Kay, in 1988, in Eastbourne, Sussex, where Tobin had been living at the time, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.

Mr Swindle says we will never know the true extent of Tobin’s horrendous crimes.

He previously exclusively told The Glasgow Times: “This was an individual who took pleasure in torturing and murdering vulnerable women.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s responsible for many more murders, but as I feared he would, he’s taken his secrets to the grave with him.

“I always hoped that he might find a shred of decency as he neared the end of his life to do the correct thing, but this shows he was someone who was incapable of showing any remorse, right until his last breath.

“He never cared about his victims or their families. He was a calculated murderer who ultimately only ever thought about himself, right until the very end.

“I don’t think he was ever capable of humanity. Tobin never wanted to reveal the true extent of his crimes, it was all about the power and control it gave him.

“He only ever cared about himself and none of his victims or their relatives ever mattered.

“He never once showed an ounce of regret and that continued right to his dying day.”