Serial killer Peter Tobin has been secretly cremated and his ashes dumped at sea, the Sunday Mail can reveal. The 76-year-old’s funeral took place at a crematorium on Thursday evening without any service.
The cremation was organised by Edinburgh City Council after Tobin’s death last Saturday morning as he lay handcuffed to a hospital bed.
The council took over the funeral arrangements after no family members or next of kin came forward to claim his body.
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.”
Tobin - who was convicted of three killings and is suspected of committing many more - had been hospitalised since falling and breaking a hip in HMP Edinburgh in late August.
His cell was sealed off by prison officers immediately after his death last Saturday to allow a search to take place by police.
Detectives were keen to examine his personal effects inlcuding letters and papers to see if they had any information of evidence that might link him to other crimes.
EThe ashes of child killer Robert Black were dumped in the sea after he died in 2016 and after World’s End murderer Angus Sinclair’s death in 2019.
We can also reveal that there are still question marks over how Tobin died.
His death certificate, registered on the same day as he was cremated, show his cause of death is ‘unascertained (pending investigations)’.
Yet it was claimed that the killer had terminal cancer.
It is understood that tests were carried on his body before he was cremated to conclusively establish the exact cause. The results are not yet known.
The certificate also names Tobin’s three ex wives Margaret Mountney, Sylvia Jefferies and Cathy Wilson and his parents Daniel and Margaret Tobin.
The evil killer, originally from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, is described as divorced on the paperwork and with no occupation. His address is listed as 33 Stenhouse Road, the address of HMP Edinburgh.
A Detective Sergeant at Gayfield Police Office officially registered the killer’s death with the council with the precise time given as October 8 at 5:33am.
It’s not known where Tobin was cremated however Edinburgh City Council have their own crematorium at Mortonhall on the south side of the capital.
Last month The Sunday Mail revealed a picture of Tobin on his deathbed in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Tobin had been refusing food and medication.
Detectives then visited the killer in a bid to try and convince him to talk to them about his other crimes. But the dad of two remain silent.
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.
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