Tobin trashes TV in rage over 'withheld' medicine

Published on 25/10/2010 17:58

SERIAL killer Peter Tobin was put into lock down at Saughton Prison after smashing up a portable TV in a rage after claiming his heart medication was being withheld.

&#149 Peter Tobin is reported to have thrown a TV across a landing after being ordered back to his cell following a row over his medication

The 63-year-old murderer took the 15-inch TV and threw it across a prison landing after launching into a tirade against jail staff during a recreation break, according to one prison insider.

Guards were forced to lock Tobin into his cell in a bid to end the tantrum after trouble flared at around 1.30pm on Sunday.

A fellow inmate told the Evening News that Tobin had launched the television after arguing with a jail supervisor over his medication.

Tobin was yesterday due to appear before the governor at Saughton to learn his punishment for breaking the TV, which could include being confined to his cell and banned from recreation periods.

The incidents followed a reported heart scare Tobin suffered at the jail on Sunday afternoon when he complained of chest pains.

It is understood that medical staff told Tobin, who was jailed in December 2008 for murdering 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, that he did not need to go to hospital.

A fellow inmate said: "Tobin has been in a rage about his medication, saying he wasn't getting what he needed. He went to speak to a supervisor and demanded to know what was happening with his meds. But the supervisor told him to go back to his cell.

"Tobin went mental and threw the TV at recreation. It was totally smashed. He can't be that sick because he threw it a fair distance.

"The guards locked him up in his cell and left him there because he was still kicking off."

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "We do not comment on individual prisoners."

Tobin has repeatedly claimed to be ill, twice failing to turn up for appeal hearings and alleging that he had problems with his heart.

In 2007 he was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from Peterhead Prison after complaining of chest pains.

He was taken back to the jail two days later.

Last week, Tobin dropped his appeal against his life sentence for murdering schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton.

Tobin, who is serving life for murdering three young women, had been challenging his 30-year sentence for killing the teenager from Falkirk.

Ms Hamilton was abducted in Bathgate in West Lothian in 1991. Her remains were found 17 years later buried in the garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent.

Vicky's father, Michael Hamilton, has previously hit out at Tobin's history of missing court dates after claiming to be sick.Tobin is also serving life terms for killing Dinah McNicol, 18, who also vanished in 1991, and student Angelika Kluk, 23, who was murdered in Glasgow four years ago.

Detectives suspect he may have been involved in more killings and are looking at missing persons cases he may be linked to.