TILLINGHAM: Tobin 'tied Dinah up with her scarf'

A CONVICTED murderer is on trial for abducting, drugging and killing a Tillingham teenager before burying her in a makeshift grave at his former home, a jury heard.

Peter Tobin, 62, appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday charged with the murder of Dinah McNicol between August 1991 and January 1992.

Dinah's father Ian, 70, was close to tears as he heard how his daughter's body was tied at her ankles and hands with the headscarf she had been photographed wearing shortly before she went missing.

The promising former Chelmsford County High pupil went missing after leaving a music concert in Liphook in Hampshire.

Her body was not discovered until 16 years later next to the remains of Scottish teenager Vicky Hamilton, for which Tobin is currently serving a life sentence.

The court heard how Dinah and a man she had met at the festival, David Tremlett, hitched a lift in a hatchback car on the A3 towards London on Monday August 5.

David was dropped at junction 8 of the M25 at Reigate and asked Dinah to go with him, but she said she was going home.

Prosecutor William Clegg QC said: "David left her in the front passenger seat in that car. The only other occupant was the driver.

"We will seek to prove that the driver was in fact the defendant and that he not only abducted her but murdered her."

The court heard how Peter Tobin was living in Margate at the time of Dinah's disappearance after his marriage had broken down.

He would regularly drive from Margate to Portsmouth to collect his son on a Friday and return him to his mother on the Monday.

The prosecution maintain it was on his return journey that he would have passed the spot where the pair would have been hitchhiking.

The jury then heard further evidence of cash withdrawals made from Dinah's account.

In September, Dinah's father was beside himself with worry as his daughter had been missing for four weeks. He found that her bank account, which had contained £2,500, had been virtually cleaned out from ATM withdrawals in Margate, Ramsgate and Portsmouth.

But the most important evidence was the discovery of the two schoolgirls' bodies in Margate.

He said: "Excavation discovered two plastic rubbish sacks lying next to each other.

"Each sack contained half of the body of a young girl. The corpse had literally been cut in half at the waist."

"It was not the body of Dinah McNicol. It was the body of another young girl who had been missing in February 1991, Vicky Hamilton."

He said four days later on November 16, further excavation revealed another human body.

"Inside these rubbish sacks was the body of Dinah, she still had some jewellery on that she had been wearing that enabled her to be identified."

He said a post mortem found her injuries were consistent with ligature strangulation and gagging.

It also revealed Amitriptylne was found in her body and the prosecution maintain Tobin had a prescription for the drug which causes drowsiness.

He said three thumb prints and one finger print were found on the rubbish bags Dinah was wrapped in.

The court was then told of the defendants previous conviction for rape and sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl on May 17 1994.

Tobin pleads not guilty. The trial continues.