The personal belongings of serial killer Peter Tobin are being kept in storage in case a family member comes forward to claim them.
The infamous murderer, who died in hospital last October, left behind items including books, letters and papers at HMP Edinburgh.
Today, it was reported that the items will be kept in storage for up to three years before being destroyed if nobody from his family claims them.
When the monster died, nobody related to him even claimed his body, which was cremated and dumped at sea - costing the taxpayer nearly £700.
A source said: "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."
Speaking to the Sunday Mail they added: "However, there is doubt that anyone will ever come forward to claim his personal belongings. No one connected to him even claimed his body after he died.
"He had a lot of books. So they will be stored, then destroyed."
Tobin's death certificate says his cause of death is "unascertained (pending investigations)", following unconfirmed claims he had terminal cancer.
His cremation was organised by Edinburgh City Council after no next of kin came forward to claim his body.
Tobin was serving three life sentences for crimes including the rape and murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, whose body he hid under the floor of a Glasgow church in 2006.
The next year he was charged with the murder of Bathgate schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, 15. She had last been seen waiting at a bus stop in Falkirk in 1991.
Her remains were unearthed by police who searched Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent.
Vicky's body was discovered alongside that of Dinah McNicol, a girl aged 18 who had not been seen since 1991 when she hitched a lift with a man, later identified as Tobin, after a Hampshire music festival.
