By Maura Bowman and Brian Smith

Dental records were used to confirm that the dismembered body buried in a Margate back garden was Falkirk schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, last seen nearly 17 years before.

Forensic dental expert Dr Geoffrey Moody (65) told the High Court in Dundee yesterday he attended a post-mortem in Edinburgh on November 20 last year.

He prepared a dental chart, which he compared with Vicky’s dental records. Any discrepancies could be explained and he was confident it was Vicky Hamilton.

Her body was “surprisingly” well preserved, pathologist Dr David Rouse told jurors.

Dr Rouse (48), a Home Office pathologist since 1988, carried out a post-mortem of Vicky’s remains after they were excavated from the Margate garden in November last year.

He said in his conclusions that the extent of decomposition could be attributed to an absence of insect activity and it could also suggest, “that the body had been kept in a cold, sealed environment after death.”

That permitted him to make what he described as “a fairly reasonable post-mortem examination,” enabling him to record that there was “no evidence of natural disease that may have caused or contributed to death.”

He said, “There are no obvious signs of major blunt or sharp penetrative injury.

“Apparent bruises on the neck, over the front of the spine, suggest death was due to neck compression.”

Dr Rouse said there would inevitably have been “significant” blood loss when the body was cut in two.

Shown a knife, which the jury has heard was found in the loft of the house in Bathgate, he said it could have been used to dismember the body.

However, he agreed with defence QC Donald Findlay, that any sharp cutting implement could have done the job.

Asked about the effects of an anti-depressant drug, Dr Rouse said that “in toxic levels,” it could have a direct effect upon and even stop the heart.

It could also lead to sleep, leaving those who took it unable to defend themselves.

Dr Rouse told the jury that cords, similar to those used in sash windows, had been used as ligatures around the arms, torso and ankles. They were tied after death and he could find no evidence that Vicky was bound while she was alive.

He agreed with Mr Findlay that he had given the cause of death as “unascertained, subject to toxicology.” Nothing in the toxicology results had been drawn to his attention to lead him to re-assess that position, he said.

Dr Rouse accepted Mr Findlay’s proposition that the apparent bruising in the neck could have been caused in ways that would not necessarily cause death—including accidentally, such as in a fall, or by having the neck gripped during a struggle.

Mr Findlay said that something caused her death but added, “As a matter of fact, we do not know what that something is and never will.”

Dr Rouse replied, “Unless the person who caused her death said, ‘I did it in a certain way’—that is the only way we are going to know.”

Former workmate Simon Nottle (53) a water and gas mains layer said that between 1973 and 1977 he worked for the Brighton Water Department. He identified Tobin as one of those who worked with him and told the court, “We all dug together.”

City and Guilds instructor with the Construction Industry Training Board Peter Roles (64) told the court he had seen photographs of an excavation in a Margate back garden.

In his opinion the hole excavated conformed to the standards he would teach students, who were mainly referred to his college by utilities companies.

Looking at one of the photographs he said the walls were straight, adding to the strength of the hole and making it easier to fill.

He noted that there was also a layer of concrete at one point in the series of photographs showing the excavation.

He said, “If anything underneath decomposes, it would sink and you would get a depression on the surface. You put the layer of concrete in to stop it from sinking.”

He said that the concrete would also support the soil above.

Solicitor-General Frank Mulholland QC asked how long it would take a single person to dig out the pit he saw in the pictures, fill it, put in the layer of concrete and complete filling it.

Mr Roles said, “To complete I would say roughly a day and a half.”

He estimated that would include half a day for the concrete to “go off” before the final layer was added.

Mr Findlay QC asked if he was aware that the hole in the pictures he saw had been excavated by trained archaeologists.

The witness said he was not aware of that but believed the central part of the excavation would be roughly the same as the original hole.

“A hole more or less goes back to when it originally was dug,” he said.

He explained that the soil of the original trench would not be so compacted, while “virgin ground would be tightly packed.”

A statement from a GP who retired to St Andrews and has died was read to the court by the police officer who interviewed him.

Dr George Graham said he was in practice between 1962 and 1993, latterly in Bathgate.

Shown medical records, the doctor told police he had seen Peter Tobin twice and that he was prescribed an anti-depressant, sedative and painkiller.

He agreed the notes showed that on December 28, 1990, Tobin had asked for a medical certificate for three months, saying he was unfit to work due to weakness in his right wrist.

In that consultation the doctor had noted Tobin told him he was bankrupt.

Dr Peter McAllister (44) was senior house officer in accident and emergency at a Livingston hospital when a Peter Tobin attended with abdominal pain and was given a painkilling injection on February 22, 1991.

The doctor agreed that notes showed Tobin had told him he was taking an anti-depressant and sedative.

The trial continues.

THE CHARGES:

Peter Tobin denies that on February 10, 1991, at a number of locations in Bathgate, he abducted, compelled or otherwise induced Vicky Hamilton to accompany him to his home in the town’s Robertson Avenue and that he assaulted her, drugged her, struggled with her, compressed or otherwise injured her neck, indecently assaulted her and murdered her.

He also denies that between February 10, 1991, and December 15 the same year at his home in Bathgate, at St Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh, at an address in Irvine Drive, Margate, Kent, and elsewhere in the UK, he attempted to hide her body and to defeat the ends of justice.

The charge alleges he concealed her body, that he removed and disposed of items of her clothing and footwear and some of her belongings, that he planted a purse belonging to Vicky under a portable building to mislead police officers into believing she had run away from home, that he cut her body in two and bound and wrapped it in coverings and bin bags, that he disposed of and concealed the knives he used and that he concealed, transported and buried her body parts.

Tobin’s defence team has lodged an alibi. His position is that between 5pm and midnight on February 10, when the crime was committed, he was in Portsmouth and was travelling from south England to Scotland, and did not return to Edinburgh before 6.30am on February 11.