Tobin: 18 years in a serial killer's life

Here is a timeline of events surrounding Peter Tobin's life of crime:

* February 10, 1991: Scottish schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, 15, disappears. She is last seen at a bus stop in Bathgate waiting for a bus to take her home to Redding, near Falkirk in Scotland.

* August 4, 1991: Essex student Dinah McNicol, 18, goes missing after attending a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire. She hitched a lift after the event.

* May 1994: Peter Tobin pleads guilty at Winchester Crown Court to a double sex attack in 1993 on two 14-year-old schoolgirls. After plying the girls with drink and drugs he brutally raped one and indecently assaulted the other. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.

* 2004: Tobin is released from prison and moves into a flat in Paisley, Scotland.

* October 2005: Tobin goes on the run following an alleged incident involving a young woman. When officers attempt to question the registered sex offender, they find he has disappeared from his home.

* September 24, 2006: Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, was last seen at St Patrick's Church in Glasgow.

* September 28, 2006: Police release a picture of a man known as Pat McLaughlin, an odd-job man who is thought to be the last person to have seen Angelika. They later confirm that McLaughlin is an alias used by Peter Tobin, a registered sex offender.

* September 30, 2006: The body of Angelika Kluk is found.

* October 1, 2006: Tobin is arrested in London.

* October 7, 2006: Tobin is formally charged with the murder of the Polish student.

* May 4, 2007: After a six-week trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, Tobin is found guilty of the rape and murder of Angelika Kluk.

* November 12, 2007: Police investigating the disappearance of Dinah McNicol begin a search of Tobin's former house in Margate, Kent.

* November 13, 2007: The remains of a woman are found buried in the back garden of the house.

* November 14, 2007: Police confirm that the body is that of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton.

* November 15, 2007: Tobin is formally charged at Linlithgow Sheriff Court over the murder of Vicky Hamilton.

* November 16, 2007: A second body is found at Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent. Police later say the height of the new body, its clothing and jewellery, are consistent with it being that of Dinah McNicol.

* January 15 2008: Tobin is arrested in connection with the murder of Miss McNicol.

* September 1 2008: Prosecutors issue a summons over the death of Miss McNicol.

* June 2009: Tobin's trial at Chelmsford Crown Court is halted after he falls ill.

* December 14 2009: Tobin's trial for the murder of Miss McNicol re-starts.

* December 16 2009: Tobin found guilty of Miss McNicol's murder by a unanimous verdict.