Former cop who helped put Peter Tobin in Edinburgh prison says AI can solve more murders

Edinburgh Live

4 days ago

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A former police chief who brought serial killer Peter Tobin to justice has said advances in technology, including AI, could help solve more murders.
David Swindle let the investigation into Tobin's murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow 2006. He then launched Operation Anagram, a UK wide probe which saw Tobin convicted of the murders of two other women - 15 year old Vicky Hamilton from Bathgate, West Lothian and 18 year old student Dinah McNicol from Essex in England, reports the Daily Record.
In an exclusive interview with Criminal Record, Swindle said: "Tobin has killed other people. I have no doubt of that.
"We don't know how many people, it could be 48 it could be 480. That is the sad reality. Tobin was in total denial of the murders he had been convicted of and never admitted killing other people.
"I was proud of the work we did on Operation Anagram but sad that we never found other victims."
Swindle says CCTV systems, door bell cameras, dash cam footage, mobile phone and DNA analysis are examples of the type of modern technology that would have nailed killers in the past had they been available to detectives at the time. Now he is hoping future technological advances such as AI and improvements to DNA testing will throw up evidence of other murders Tobin has committed. He believes his crimes are comparable to those of other serial killers such Fred and Rosemary West, Ian Brady and Denis Nilsen.
However Swindle doesn't think Tobin is Bible John, the man said to have murdered three young Glasgow mothers in the late 1960s. He carried out two cold case reviews of the unsolved homicides when he was in the force and believes the three killings may be the work of more than one man.
Handyman Tobin met Angelika while they were both working at St Patrick's Church in Glasgow. The 23 year old's body was found buried under floorboards after she was reported missing and police discovered she had been stabbed, beaten and raped. Tobin was convicted of her murder the following year at the High Court in Glasgow and sentenced to life.
Swindle added: "I set up Operation Anagram after the murder of Angelika Kluk to look at Tobin's whole life and where he was from the time he was born.
"As a result we identified that Tobin had killed two other women - Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol. Tobin targeted people who were vulnerable. Angelika was vulnerable. A young woman in a strange country trying to earn a living.
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"He was a murderer, a serial killer, a horrible cowardly killer. Tobin didn't confess to anything. He was interviewed at length numerous times buy our Anagram team using expert psychologists and profilers.
"Tobin was a narcissistic controlling individual that denied everything to the bitter end."
Tobin died in 2022 at the age of 76 at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He had also been convicted of the murders of Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol and given two additional life sentences.
During the Anagram investigation police discovered items of women's jewellery at properties in Scotland and England where Tobin had lived which they suspect may have been kept by him as souvenirs. Swindle believes these items are the key to identifying other victims. He said: "There are different women's DNA on that jewellery which we have never identified. I believe they are the result of some horrible acts.
"There is the hope that perhaps one day we will identify the owners. The question is why does a serial killer have women's jewellery? We always live in hope that perhaps some day there will be a body or human remains that links Tobin into the DNA we have got."
Swindle is convinced that improvements in forensic science will finally bring justice to Tobin's other victims. He said: "Technology changes, things change over the years. Policing has changed dramatically since I joined in 1977. Things will continue to change and continue to improve.
"I don't know where we will be in ten years time. The big thing that comes up is Artificial Intelligence. It will never replace the role of the detective But we can make better use of it and the police can use it more."
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Swindle says it's possible that improvements in forensic science could also be used to solve the Bible John murders. Three women, Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock, were found murdered near their homes in Glasgow between 1968 and 1969 after spending the evening in the city's Barrowland Ballroom.
The sister of the third victim Helen Puttock told police that a man who had shared a taxi with them from the Barrowland and was suspected of being her killer had quoted extensively from the bible during the journey. As a result the mystery man was dubbed Bible John by newspapers.
Swindle added: "I was involved in reviewing these murders twice. I wasn't convinced that the same person was involved in all three. Tobin is not Bible John.
"There is no evidence to say that Peter Tobin is the person who killed these three people. There was some DNA examined and it wasn't Tobin's"
During his reviews of the case Swindle also discovered that Tobin who was newly married had also been living in Brighton in the south of England around the time of the murders of Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock. The DNA which was compared to Tobin's was from the clothing of Helen Puttock.