Fatal Accident Enquiry into death of serial killer Peter Tobin concludes
The FAI found there were no precautions which could have avoided his death
A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the death of serial killer Peter Tobin has concluded there were no precautions which could have been taken to avoid it.
The 76 year old was receiving palliative care when he died in hospital on October 8 2022, which the inquiry heard last month had gone undiagnosed for years after he refused medical tests.
He was serving three life sentences at HMP Edinburgh for the murders of three young women who vanished between 1991 and 2006.
Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss found there were no precautions which would have avoided his death from hospital-acquired pneumonia and cancer, which was discovered after he suffered a fall in his cell.
Tobin was serving three life sentences at the time of his death
Sheriff Auchincloss said: “At the time of his death, Peter Tobin was a 76-year-old man who had been living with a number of serious health conditions.
“He suffered a fall in prison.
"Prison staff dealt with the situation appropriately and he was given appropriate medical care in hospital.
"Medical staff had expected Peter Tobin's death given a decline after his injury and surgery, combined with his general frailty."
Tobin underwent surgery for a fractured right hip on September 9, one day after the fall, and tests confirmed he was suffering from metastatic prostate cancer.
FAI concludes no precautions could have been taken to prevent his death
The FAI was told he was heard to be “speaking incoherently” by prison guards, shortly before his death in hospital a month after surgery.
On October 12 2022, a post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as "bronchial pneumonia in a man with a fractured right neck of femur (surgically treated on September 9 2022), generalised vascular disease and prostate cancer".
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) released a statement which "welcomed" the FAI findings.
It came exactly 18 years after Tobin's first appearance in Glasgow Sheriff Court for the murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, whose body was hidden under St Patrick's Church in Glasgow where he worked as a handyman.
"We note and welcome the sheriff's determination"
In November 2007, the remains of two teenage girls who vanished in 1991 - Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Dinah McNicol, 18 - were found under the patio of Tobin's "house of horrors" in Margate, Kent.
A mandatory FAI was held into his death on September 17 this year, due to the death occurring in custody.
The purpose of an FAI is to establish the circumstances of the death and to consider what steps, if any, may be taken to prevent other deaths in similar circumstances.
The procurator fiscal, who acts in the public interest at FAIs, led evidence on the facts and circumstances of Tobin's death.
Procurator fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on fatalities investigations for COPFS, said: "We note and welcome the sheriff's determination."