Vicky Hamilton murder - Jigsaw of crucial evidence slowly fell into place

Published on Tuesday 2 December 2008 21:34

THE only real clue to emerge in the original Vicky Hamilton investigation was the discovery of her purse, 11 days after her disappearance, near St Andrew Square bus station, Edinburgh.

Even though Tobin almost certainly dropped it there to throw the police off his scent, the purse turned out to be a vital piece of evidence against him.

Later, after Strathclyde Police had alerted the Lothian and Borders force of Tobin's links with the Bathgate area, all available evidence was revisited. DNA from Tobin's toddler son, Daniel, who had probably put the purse in his mouth, provided the crucial link between the killer and his victim.

Months afterwards, on 4 June, 2007, when Tobin had been found guilty of the murder of Angelika Kluk, a massive search of his former house in Bathgate was launched. Incredibly, he had left behind the murder weapon – concealed in a gap between a wall and a wooden joist.

Detective chief inspector Keith Anderson said it was possible Tobin had kept the murder weapon as a "trophy" from the killing – but also that he may simply have lost it.

He added: "We found it on the second day of the search. There was quite a number of other items in the loft, it all looked like rubbish and then 'bingo'."

A tiny sliver of material found on the knife was then identified by forensic scientists as a piece of Vicky's skin.