Margate killer Peter Tobin
True Crime

Channel 5 explores the terrifying case of serial killer Peter Tobin

The killer is featured on the Channel 5 documentary series

Peter Tobin is one of Britain’s most prolific and sadistic serial killers and tonight (April 20), Channel 5 tells his story in Killer at the Crime Scene.

The number of his victims may truly never be known. However, he became known for terrorising young women around the country.

Here’s everything you need to know about this shocking true crime case that’s been featured on Killer at the Crime Scene.

margate killer peter tobin
Peter Tobin buried two bodies in his garden in Margate (Credit: Cover Images)

Killer at the Crime Scene: Who is Peter Tobin?

Peter, 75, was one of eight children born to a family in Johnstone, Scotland.

He was poorly behaved from a young age and was sent to a school for the “uncontrollable youth” at the age of seven.

He spent much of his childhood going in and out of youth prison, before moving to Brighton in 1969.

The killer was later imprisoned in 1970 on charges of burglary and forgery.

Peter married three times to wives who all described him as charming at first. However, as their marriages progressed he became increasingly violent.

His first wife, Margaret, once recalled a terrifying story. She came home from the shops to find her pet dog decapitated. Peter then raped and brutally sexually assaulted her with the same knife.

Peter has two living children, Ian and Daniel Tobin. His daughter died soon after her birth.

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What did Peter do?

Peter Tobin is currently serving three sentences of life imprisonment.

He has a whole life order for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006.

In 1994, he was added to the sex offenders register and served a decade behind bars after brutally attacking and raping two 14-year-old girls.

He went on to brutally murder Angelika Kluk, 23, Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Dinah McNicol, 18.  However, he has also been linked to dozens of unsolved deaths of women.

His most shocking murder happened in 2006 when he raped and gaged Angelika Kluk before stabbing her 16 times.

He then dumped her beneath the floor of a chapel, in an underground chamber next to the confession box.

It’s believed she was still alive when he left her to die.

He was an organised and geographically mobile serial killer.

He was posing as a homeless handyman called Pat McLaughlin at the time because police were searching for him after police lost track of him. Every police force in the country was alerted after his DNA was found near the scene.

‘Possible’ he murdered 48 women

While in prison, Peter is reported to have told a prison psychiatrist Professor Wilson that he murdered 48 women before smiling and saying: “Prove it.”

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“Tobin could have exaggerated for effect. However, it is possible he did murder 48 women. He was an organised and geographically mobile serial killer. He would murder in one part of the country but would then flee to another,” said the professor.

“By crossing police force boundaries like this, he made it difficult to link up a series of murders. Tobin also hid the bodies of his victims. In his house, in the garden and even in a church. This allowed him to put time and distance between him and his crimes.”

Bible John murders

Peter was also linked to the serial killer nicknamed Bible John.

The killer murdered at least three women after meeting them at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, Scotland, between 1968 and 1969.

Coincidentally, Peter met his first wife at the Ballroom in 1969 before moving out of the city.

margate killer peter tobin
Police search for the bodies of more victims of Margate killer Peter Tobin (Credit: Cover Images)

Where is Peter Tobin now and what happened to his murder house in Margate?

Peter is currently serving three life sentences for the murders of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol. He currently resides in HMP Edinburgh.

However, his health has taken a bad turn in recent years. In 2016, he was found slumped over in his cell after a suspected stroke.

In 2018, he was hospitalised several times before he was diagnosed with cancer in early 2019.

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According to reports since then, other inmates have grown jealous of Peter receiving special treatment because of his illness.

It’s also been claimed that he loves watching news stories and documentaries about himself.

Peter Tobin’s home in Margate wasn’t knocked down. Instead, it has now become a loving family home.

Abigail Dengate moved into the infamous property in 2010 with her husband and kids.

She told The Mirror: “People have had a lot to say about this house and its ­history but to us, it is just a home. It wasn’t a case of thinking about who once lived here and what he did.”

Killer at the Crime Scene is on tonight (April 20) on Channel 5 at 10pm.

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