The body of serial killer and rapist Peter Tobin has been cremated and dumped at sea after he died in hospital and no family claimed his remains - costing the taxpayer nearly £700.
Edinburgh City Council is believed to have arranged for the body of the infamous murderer to be cremated on Thursday 13 October after he died days earlier, chained to his hospital bed after years of ill health.
It has now been revealed that Tobin's funeral was paid for with taxpayer money.
The funeral expenses included £69 in admin fees, £250 on a coffin and £364 on a cremation. The killer's ashes was disposed of at sea after no family members came forward to claim them, The Sun reports.
Following a fall in August at HMP Edinburgh that led to a broken hip, he was taken to hospital where he remained until his death.
Tobin's ashes were scattered at sea like past serial killers.
Tobin was found to have committed three murders but is believed he may have been behind more which he never confessed to.
He was serving three life sentences including that of the rape and murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, whose body he hid under the floor of a Glasgow church in 2006.
The following year he was charged with the murder of 15-year old Bathgate schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton. She had last been seen waiting at a bus stop in Redding, Falkirk, in 1991.
Her remains were unearthed by police officers who searched Tobin’s former home in Margate, Kent. Vicky’s body was discovered alongside that of a third victim, Dinah McNicol.
Dinah, 18, had not been seen since 1991 when she hitched a lift with a man, later identified as Tobin, after leaving a music festival in Hampshire.
Tobin was also given life terms for Vicky and Dinah’s murders and told he would never be set free.
The killer has been linked to at least seven other murders or missing women cases in the last decade.
Miss Hamilton's father had previously pleaded for Tobin's ashes to be sent to him, so that he could flush them down the toilet.
Edinburgh city council confirmed the cremation had taken place.
A spokesperson said: “The remains of Peter Tobin were cremated in accordance with the requirements of Section 87 of the Burials and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.
“Ashes from the cremation were dispersed into the sea. The Council’s thoughts are with the victims of his crimes and their loved ones.”
Officers cordoned off his cell in the aftermath of his death in order to search it, in the hope of finding new information of evidence that would connect him to other crimes.
There are also questions over how Tobin died as his death certificate, registered the day he was cremated, says that the cause of death is unascertained (pending investigations).
Tests were said to have been carried out on his corpse before he was cremated to establish the exact cause of death but the results are still not known.
His death certificate named Tobin’s three ex wives Margaret Mountney, Sylvia Jefferies and Cathy Wilson and his parents Daniel and Margaret Tobin.
His address was listed as 33 Stenhouse Road, the address of the prison in Edinburgh, and the Renfrewshire man was described as divorced and holding no job.
Tobin was known to be a prolific wife beater, with all three of his former spouses claiming he repeatedly and brutally attacked them.
The responsibility for officially registering the death lay with a detective sergeant at Gayfield Police Office.
Tobin’s time of death was declared to be at 05.33am on October 8.
The exact location of the cremation has not been revealed but some suspect that it may have taken place at the capital’s crematorium at Mortonhall.
A picture of Tobin on his deathbed in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary emerged earlier this year.
At this time he was said to have been refusing food and medication.
He was visited by Detectives in hospital who tried to get the killer to reveal any information regarding other crimes but they had little success.
