David Swindle was the formidable detective who tirelessly led the investigation into Peter Tobin and unravelled his trail of murder.
Now that the serial killer is lying frail and ill in a hospital bed, Swindle holds on to a hope that clues about his other victims will now be disclosed.
But the retired detective superintendent with Strathclyde Police who caught Tobin doubts the evil murderer will show any humanity.
Swindle, 67, has no doubt Tobin has killed multiple times.
He told the Sunday Mail: “Tobin is withholding information. He knows what he’s done. He definitely killed other people, I have no doubt about it.
“We hoped he’d never take his secrets to the grave and maybe he can find some sort of humanity to say what he’s done with other victims.
“I hate to say it but he might even be proud of it.”
After Tobin’s 2007 conviction for the rape and murder of 23-year-old Polish student Angelika Kluk, Swindle became convinced he had killed before.
His police interviews, age and method of killing resulted in the creation of a unique taskforce called Operation Anagram, which looked at every aspect of the killer’s life.
A trail of clues led Swindle’s team first to the home in West Lothian where Tobin had lived when Vicky Hamilton disappeared in 1991. Then to his former home at Irvine Drive in Margate, Kent, where he moved to in 1991.
In Margate forensic investigators unearthed the remains of two missing teenagers – Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Dinah McNicol, 18.
Swindle believes Tobin’s tactic of targeting vulnerable women and burying their bodies is why more victims have not been found.
He said: “You just don’t know what else he’s been responsible for because he’s never said anything.
“There was an article years ago that said he’d killed 48 people. But I don’t agree as Tobin has never admitted to anything.
“This is a guy who buried bodies and frequented where vulnerable people were. But if a girl in a hostel went missing, who was going to report her missing? That’s the problem with Tobin. We just don’t know.
“There’s so many areas of the country he’s been associated with.
“He has definitely killed other people but we don’t know how many and his method. He targeted people that were vulnerable and concealed bodies.
“I would hope that maybe he is on his way out and that will bring closure for families.”
Operation Anagram looked at more than 1000 leads on Tobin, tracked down more than 40 places he lived and any unsolved murders or missing women in those area.
They traced his ex-wives, former partners and looked at every job and every vehicle he owned or had access to across a 40-year period.
They narrowed the list to nine unsolved murders and missing person cases with possible links to Tobin.
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. Swindle is convinced Tobin was behind 18-year-old Louise’s death but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.
The former detective also carried out a separate review of the three Bible John murders in Glasgow in the late 60s but concluded that Tobin was not responsible.
Some had suggested the serial killer might be responsible for the violent deaths of young mothers Patricia Docker, 25, Jemima MacDonald, 32, and Helen Puttock, 29, between 1968 and 1969. Swindle said he could find no connection between Tobin and the three women who were all found dead after spending the evening at Glasgow’s Barrowland ballroom.
Swindle was in the police for 34 years and worked on hundreds of murders and high-profile investigations.
He now has his own crime investigation company, which focuses on deaths abroad and cold case reviews.
He also gives presentations and talks on his work and Tobin is always a main topic of interest.
Swindle hopes the Sunday Mail’s new picture of a sick Tobin will prompt fresh publicity over his case and put more pressure on him to reveal his victims.
He said: “This is a sad old man, but it’s the face of serial killer.
“He’s still a horrible individual and there’s still this controlling thing that he has in revealing information about his victims.
“He’s a serial killer so he’s got no rights and there’s a huge public interest in seeing this picture.”
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