Tobin trial off until winter

Jul 8 2009 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

THE trial of convicted killer Peter Tobin has been postponed until December.

Tobin – who was born in Johnstone and has also lived in Paisley and Renfrew – had been on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex accused of murdering 18-year-old Dinah McNicol.

The case has not heard evidence for more than a week since Tobin was diagnosed with shingles.

And, yesterday, judge Mr Justice Calvert- Smith told the court that 62-year-old Tobin had shingles with “complications” and the problem would require “surgical intervention”.

He discharged the jury and said the trial would start again on Monday, December 14.

Tobin denies killing Dinah, who disappeared in August 1991 after attending a music festival in Hampshire.

The trial previously heard the remains of Dinah and 15-year-old Bathgate schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton were found buried in the back garden of Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent, in 2007.

Jurors were told Tobin is currently serving a life sentence for murdering Vicky and also had a conviction for indecently assaulting two 14-year-old girls in 1994.

Shingles is an infection of the nerves caused by the same virus which leads to chickenpox. About one in five people have shingles at some point in their life but it is most common in people over the age of 50.