FINGERPRINTS from the man accused of murdering schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton were found on a bag used to wrap her body, a murder trial heard today.
Prints from Peter Tobin's left ring finger, right middle finger and right little finger were found on a plastic bag containing the 15-year-old's upper torso, the High Court in Dundee was told.
Tobin, 62, denies abducting and murdering Vicky and bu
rying her body parts.
The court also heard the accused swore at police when they went to detain him.
Jurors were further told that a sedative drug was found in Vicky's body.
The trial has heard how her bisected remains were unearthed from a back garden in Margate, Kent, last year, more than 16 years after she went missing.
Today, the court was told of the existence of photographs of four fingerprints taken from a plastic bag wrapped around Vicky's upper torso.
Fingerprint officer James Aitken, of the Scottish Police Services Authority, said he compared these with Peter Tobin's fingerprints.
He told the court the first two prints matched the prints from Tobin's right little finger.
The third was identified as coming from Tobin's left ring finger, while the fourth print was from his right middle finger, said Mr Aitken, 46.
"Would it be consistent with Peter Tobin having had contact with the black bin bag containing the upper torso of Vicky Hamilton?" asked solicitor-general Frank Mulholland QC, prosecuting.
"Yes it would," the witness replied.
Earlier today, the court was told by defence QC Donald Findlay of the existence of photographs said to be of Vicky when she might have been as young as 12.
Mr Findlay said they were "taken of Vicky in a bedroom with, for whatever reason, something that looks like a whip in her possession".
The defence lawyer asked Det Con Campbell whether they were taken by a man named Hugh Gunn. The witness said he could not answer that question.
The trial was also told of a bizarre note claiming someone called Vicky had been killed and then buried near a cottage. It was said by Mr Findlay to have been written by a woman who has since died.
The court heard it said: "Shug plus friend from the Brays shot him dead. After killing Vicky, he took her to the Brays and they helped bury her in garage near a cottage."
Tobin denies all charges and claims he was hundreds of miles away in the Portsmouth area when Vicky disappeared.
The trial, before Lord Emslie, continues tomorrow.
The full article contains 432 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
