Tobin search archaeologist disappointed not to find more bodies

Published on Friday 30 July 2010 15:50

ONE of the archaeologists who dug up gardens in Brighton in search of new victims of serial killer Peter Tobin, 63, has spoken of her disappointment at not finding a body.

•Lucy Sibun, pictured outside Tobin's former home in Marine Parade, found it hard trying to live a normal family life with her daughters Picture: Connors Brighton Press Associates Ltd

Mother-of-two Lucy Sibun - who helped uncover the bodies of Tobin victims Vicky Hamilton, 15, and Dinah McNicol, 18, in Kent - was desperate to bring some closure to other families.

Unlike the media and general public, the 37-year-old was told by police who they believed was buried in the gardens of Station Road and Marine Parade, and which families were sitting at home, waiting on tenterhooks for news.

For 15 days, she knew the next piece of earth to be overturned could reveal the tell-tale signs of a grave underneath.

Ms Sibun, who is senior forensic archaeologist at Archaeology South-East, a commercial branch of University College London, said: "It's all-consuming.

"It's been a long job, with long hours, and it takes all your concentration. You think about it all the time.

"You are constantly aware that you could discover something at any moment. It could be the next spade to turn over which gives you what you are looking for. It's exhausting, but you just keep going. I feel it now it's over, but when you are there, you just carry on.

"You need to do as good a job as you possibly can for the justice system and for the families. But we know now that there are families out there who still do not know what happened to their missing relatives, and I do feel disappointed for them, that we have not been able to answer any of their questions or doubts."

When she was not thinking about the families and victims, she thought of Tobin and the steps he might have taken while desperately trying to conceal another body.

Ms Sibun said: "In this case, there has been an awful lot of background.

"You are trying to understand the thought process (of Tobin], which may help you find what you are looking for. Everyone knows all about it, everyone's got a sense of what's been going on."

Tobin search: like something out of TV crime drama - only it's for real

Her daughters are just seven and ten and too young to understand the full ramifications of their mother's work. Ms Sibun admits she found it difficult to go home and concentrate on her family while her mind was still occupied by the horrors of her day job.

She said: "We try to carry on as much as normal. I do find it hard to concentrate on family matters, but I knew it was just for a limited time.

"You have to switch off as much as you can, but it's harder when you keep seeing pictures in the newspaper.

"We were motivated by the last one, when we found two (bodies], and when you hear so much about it, it does make you think about it even more, but we just try to approach each job with a professional mindset."

The searches in Brighton also brought back memories of when Ms Sibun and her colleagues were called to offer expert assistance at a dig at Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent, in 2007, when they found the teenage bodies of Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol.

Vicky, from Redding, near Falkirk, had last been seen waiting for a bus in Bathgate, West Lothian, in 1991, the same year that Dinah disappeared after hitchhiking home from a music festival in Hampshire.

Sixteen years later, their bodies were discovered in Margate, and Ms Sibun remembers the exact moment she realised they were standing above a makeshift grave.

She said: "The chalk should have been much lower down, so the ground had clearly been dug up and, as soon as we saw that, we knew straight away. We cut through a corner of cement, we could see the soil underneath was so different, and at that point, yes, we did think that's going to be a grave.

"There was a mixture of satisfaction, because that's what we were looking for, but also anxiety and a rush of adrenaline because the pressure is then on to do the job as well and effectively as possible."

That was Vicky's body they found, and two days later, they discovered Dinah's remains.

No bodies have been uncovered in Brighton, but police are now sifting through all the information from members of the public, which has come as a result of the publicity the search generated.

Although they have no plans at present to dig up gardens at any of Tobin's other former homes - he lived a nomadic existence and there are other addresses in Brighton and elsewhere, where they could search - that could change, depending on the information that comes through.

Ms Sibun said she would be keen to take part in further digs if it might lead to uncovering other crimes committed by Tobin and giving victims' relatives some sort of closure. She said: "I would like to be involved if there was another worthwhile search to do.

"There are other forensic archaeologists around the country, and it makes sense to work locally, but if something else was to happen, it would be nice to be involved in the continuation of the case."

As well as the murders of Vicky and Dinah in 1991, Tobin has also been convicted of murdering Polish student Angelika Kluk in 2006. He is serving three life sentences and has been told he will never be released from prison.

He served ten years in prison, between 1994 and 2004, for the rape of two 14-year-old girls at his flat in Havant, Hampshire, in 2003. And police believe he has committed more murders.

Some people, including the criminologist Professor David Wilson, who has written a book about Tobin, believe he is the mysterious Bible John murderer, who met his victims in Glasgow's Barrowland ballroom in the late 1960s, and who killed Patricia Docker, 25, Jemima McDonald, 32, and Helen Puttock, 29.

On Wednesday, Strathclyde Police questioned Tobin about a number of serious sexual crimes, but not the Bible John murders.

A BBC Crimewatch appeal earlier this month led to a number of women coming forward and saying they had been raped or sexually assaulted by the serial killer.