Published Date: 09 October 2008
By JOHN ROBERTSON
THE man accused of murdering schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton 17 years ago has claimed in an alibi defence that he was hundreds of miles away from the scene of her alleged abduction.
Peter Tobin, 62, has lodged a document stating that he was in the Portsmouth area when the 15-year-old is alleged to have disappeared in Bathgate, West Lothian, then travelled to Scotland, arriving in Edinburgh the following morning .
Tobin, 62, due to stand trial next month, submitted the special defence at a preliminary hearing yesterday in the High Court in Edinburgh.
Vicky, 15, is said to have been abducted in February 1991. The indictment accuses Tobin of forcing or luring Vicky to his home in Bathgate and sexually assaulting and killing her.
It is also claimed he cut her body in two and buried it. He denies the charges.
Vicky, from Redding, near Falkirk, was last seen waiting for a bus in Bathgate on Sunday, 10 February, 1991. She stopped there to change buses on her way home from visiting her sister in Livingston.
Her disappearance prompted one of Scotland's biggest missing person investigations, and police confirmed in November last year that Vicky's remains had been found in the garden of a house in Margate, Kent.
Tobin faces two charges, of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
It is alleged that on 10 February, 1991, he abducted, compelled or otherwise induced Vicky Hamilton to go with him to his then home in Robertson Avenue, Bathgate.
He is further accused of assaulting, drugging and struggling with her. He compressed her neck, or otherwise caused injury to her neck, committed an indecent act on her, and murdered her, it is claimed.
He is further accused of trying to avoid investigation by disposing of her belongings, cutting her body in two and wrapping it in bin bags.
It is alleged Tobin concealed Vicky's body, removed and disposed of her clothing, footwear and belongings, left her purse under a mobile hut to mislead police into believing she had run away from home, bisected her body with knives and bound and wrapped it in bin bags, disposed of the knives and concealed, transported and buried her body parts.
In the defence, Tobin states that between 5pm and midnight on 10 February, 1991, he was in the Portsmouth area. He then travelled to Scotland and did not arrive in Edinburgh until 6:30am the following day.
The trial is scheduled to begin on 3 November at the High Court in Dundee, and is expected to last up to five weeks.
