Families of Peter Tobin victims plan memorial

THE families of two young women murdered by serial killer Peter Tobin are involved in planning a memorial to commemorate them, it emerged today.

The bodies of Dinah McNicol and Vicky Hamilton were found by police in the garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent, in November 2008.

A spokeswoman for Thanet District Council said the authority is currently in discussions with the two women's families who have suggested they would like to see a memorial bench and tree placed somewhere in the town.

Miss McNicol's father, Ian, recently called for Tobin's former home to be pulled down but Brendan Ryan, the council's director of community services, said a consultation of local residents found they wanted it to remain standing.

He said: "They were clear that they wanted their neighbourhood to return to normal as soon as possible and there was overwhelming support for the house in question to be refurbished and re-let.

"However, local residents suggested some form of memorial to remember these tragic events."

Mr Ryan added: "The council has the deepest of sympathies with the families of both Dinah McNicol and Vicky Hamilton.

"No-one can begin to imagine what they have been through over the course of many years.

"We are working closely with them on the plans for a memorial to ensure that they are fully involved.

"This will be a memorial to their loved ones and we want to ensure that they are happy with what is being proposed."

Tobin, 63, was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Miss McNicol last December while he was already serving a life sentence for the murders of Miss Hamilton, 15, and a third woman, Angelika Kluk, 23.

Miss McNicol vanished in August 1991 while hitchhiking to her home in Tillingham after leaving a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire.

Six months earlier, Miss Hamilton disappeared while waiting for a bus close to Tobin's then home in Bathgate, West Lothian.

Detectives investigating the girls' disappearances focused their attention on Tobin after he was convicted of killing Miss Kluk – a Polish student staying at a room in a Glasgow church – in May 2007.

During the three murder trials judges branded him "inhuman", "an evil man" and someone "unfit to live in a decent society".