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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Nicola Stow & Kris Gourlay

Family of Peter Tobin victim say killer's ashes should be 'flushed down the toilet'

The brother of one of Peter Tobin's victims says the serial killer's ashes should be "flushed down the toilet."

The 76-year-old killer and paedophile died in hospital over the weekend while serving three life sentences at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh. It is understood that he suffered from cancer for the last three years of his life.

Dinah McNicol's heartbroken family have spoken out since the death of Tobin, with her brother Dan saying he was "gutted" to hear of Tobin's passing, as he wanted him to "suffer in agony for eternity."

READ MORE: Edinburgh sex offender went on horror knife rampage and abducted student after jail release

Tobin was serving life sentences for the murders of Dinah, 18, Vicky Hamilton, 15, and 23-year-old Angelika Kluk. The Daily Record previously reported how before his death, Tobin was refusing food and drink from hospital staff.

Dan has asked the authorities to "bin" or "flush" Tobin's ashes, adding that he wanted to drive 400 miles from his home in Essex to visit the killer on his deathbed and laugh in his face.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Record, Dan said he had hoped that Tobin, who had a history of feigning illness, would "go on forever", leading a grim life in crippling pain behind bars. He said: "When I was told Tobin was on his last legs, I was dubious because he [Tobin] had faked heart attacks and a litany of ailments over the years.

"I answered the door to two plain clothes officers on Saturday morning. They didn't need to say a word. I took one look at their serious faces and said, 'He's dead, isn't he?' They both nodded and my heart sank. I was gutted.

Tobin outside Edinburgh High Court in 2007. (The Daily Record)

"Although impossible, I wanted Tobin to go on suffering, rolling a wheel up that hill for eternity. I wished upon him the worst pain imaginable and daily beatings from fellow prisoners. To me, Tobin's death seemed too quick and easy."

Of his wish to face the brute who abducted, drugged and strangled Dinah, the dad of two added: "I wouldn't have wasted too much breath on him. I would simply have stood over him, glared into his pathetic, old eyes and laughed loudly.

"Then I'd planned to remind him of his imminent arrival in hell. I would have sneered into his ear, 'Can you smell the sulphur yet?' I would also have reminded him that he's a sick paedophile and psychopath as well as a murderer.

Dinah was killed after being drugged and strangled. (Daily Record)

"I believe Tobin was brought up a Catholic and while there's no proof that heaven or hell exist, he must have known that he was only going to one place. I love to think that he wrestled with the prospect of going to hell."

Dinah disappeared in August 1991 after hitching a lift home from a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire. Tobin, who had already brutally murdered Vicky Hamilton and transported her from Scotland to England, picked up both Dinah and her friend on the A3.

Tobin then doped Dinah with a painkiller and strangled her, later disposing of her body within rubbish sacks in the back garden of his home in Kent. Her body was not found until 2007.

Dinah's dad, Ian McNicol, passed away in 2014, furious that he didn't get to see Tobin die behind bars. It was the 75-year-old granddad's dying wish to outlive the "scum" who killed his beloved daughter.

Unlike his son, Ian longed for Tobin to be executed for his heinous crimes. After Tobin's conviction for Dinah's murder in December 2009, he said: "I just want him [Tobin] dead. My Dinah was a beautiful, kind, intelligent girl. She had so much to give to the world."

For Dan, Tobin's death brought memories of his sister and dad flooding back. He said: "Dad had a few years on Tobin. He would have loved to have heard this news but I think deep down he knew that wouldn't happen."

Following Tobin's death, Detective Chief Superintendent Laura Thomson, head of major crime at Police Scotland, said "recent attempts" had been made to encourage the beast to "do the right thing". But he took his secrets to his grave.

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