Peter Tobin’s body has been secretly cremated and dumped at sea after he died in hospital and no family came forward to claim him.
Edinburgh City Council arranged for the body of the infamous murderer to be cremated on Thursday 13 October it is believed.
No service was held and it took place covertly after Tobin died last Saturday 8 October, chained to his hospital bed, The Sunday Mail revealed.
The local authority were forced to make the arrangements as no one claimed his body.
Tobin was found to have committed three murders but is believed he may have been behind more which he never confessed to.
Following a fall in August at HMP Edinburgh that led to a broken hip, he was taken to hospital where he remained until his death.
Tobin's ashes were scattered at sea like past serial killers.
A source said: “After he died, this was dealt with quickly. Like serial killers Robert Black and Angus Sinclair, it was considered best that his remains were scattered in the sea.”
Officers cordoned off his cell in the aftermath of his death in order to search it, in the hope of finding new information of evidence that would connect him to other crimes.
There are also questions over how Tobin died as his death certificate, registered the day he was cremated, saying that the cause of death is unascertained (pending investigations).
Those in the know have alleged that the serial killer was suffering from terminal cancer.
Tests were said to have been carried out on his corpse before he was cremated to establish the exact cause of death but the results are still not known.
His death certificate named Tobin’s three ex wives Margaret Mountney, Sylvia Jefferies and Cathy Wilson and his parents Daniel and Margaret Tobin.
His address was listed as 33 Stenhouse Road, the address of the prison in Edinburgh, and the Renfrewshire man was described as divorced and holding no job.
The responsibility for officially registering the death lay with a detective sergeant at Gayfield Police Office.
Tobin’s time of death was declared to be at 05.33am on October 8.
The exact location of the cremation has not been revealed but some suspect that it may have taken place at the capital’s crematorium at Mortonhall.
Last month The Sunday Mail revealed a picture of Tobin on his deathbed in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
At this time he was said to have been refusing food and medication.
He was visited by Detectives on his deathbed to try to get the killer to reveal any information regarding other crimes but they had little success.
Edinburgh city council confirmed the cremation had taken place.
A spokesperson said: “The remains of Peter Tobin were cremated in accordance with the requirements of Section 87 of the Burials and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.
“Ashes from the cremation were dispersed into the sea. The Council’s thoughts are with the victims of his crimes and their loved ones.”
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) yesterday declined to comment on the cremation of Tobin.
Tobin was serving three life sentences including that of the rape and murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, whose body he hid under the floor of a Glasgow church in 2006.
The following year he was charged with the murder of 15-year old Bathgate schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton. She had last been seen waiting at a bus stop in Redding, Falkirk, in 1991.
Her remains were unearthed by police officers who searched Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent. Vicky’s body was discovered alongside that of a third victim, Dinah McNicol.
Dinah, 18, had not been seen since 1991 when she hitched a lift with a man, later identified as Tobin, after leaving a music festival in Hampshire.
Tobin was also given life terms for Vicky and Dinah’s murders and told he would never be set free.
The killer has been linked to at least seven other murders or missing women cases in the last decade.
