'He Knifed Me And Left Me To Die On The Bed ..the Man Who Lived Below Saw My Blood Dripping From The

TOBIN'S first wife, who was raped and left to bleed to death, said that he "always had it in him to kill". Margaret Mackintosh was unable to have children after the savage knife attack when she was just a teenager.

TOBIN'S first wife, who was raped and left to bleed to death, said that he "always had it in him to kill".

Margaret Mackintosh was unable to have children after the savage knife attack when she was just a teenager.

The 57-year-old said: "He left me for dead. We were a couple. How did he think he would get away with that?"

She told how she only survived the attack because blood dripped through her bedroom floor into the flat below.

She said: "Luckily, the man underneath saw the blood coming through the ceiling and gotme to hospital.

"I nearly snuffed it. He left me to die and I would have died.

"I couldn't have children as a result of what he did.

"I was only young and I just wanted home to my mum. For a teenage girl to go through that was really horrific."

Born Margaret Mountney, the first of Tobin's three wives now runs a guest house in Inverness-shire.

The monster forced her to marry him, forging her parents' signatures.

Tobin once bought Margaret a puppy, which she called Bute.

But one day she noticed it was missing and, when she asked where it was, he told her: "Never mind Bute."

Margaret told the Record: "I ran down to the yard and I said 'Where's Bute?' and one guy said 'His head's over there and his body's over there.' "I ran up screaming back into the flat and I tore into him.

"I just lashed out, and that's when the dreaded rape happened.

"He tore all my clothes off and put this serrated bread knife into me and twisted it around and then just left."

Last night, she told of her delight after learning of his latest conviction.

Margaret said: "I am so pleased for Vicky's family that they can go back to their private lives and that someone will pay for their daughter's death.

"Hanging is too good for him. It is just a shame that good, honest working people have to pay for his keep.

"I hope he eventually rots in Hell for what he inflicted on his victims."

Margaret met Tobin when she was 17 and they married in 1969 when she was 18 and he was 22.

The couple set up home in Shettleston, Glasgow, but soonmoved to Brighton. By then, Margaret was already living in fear of Tobin.

She said: "He used to carry a knife and he threatened me that if I didn't behave, I would get stabbed.

"He was fine when we got together but, when I moved in, he changed.

"We went to Brighton and it was like a kidnapping. I wasn't able to get in touch with my parents.

"We were having to move on constantly because he stole from different places. We were always on the run."

Margaret lived in fear of Tobin's rages. He assaulted his young wife many times before the blade attack that nearly killed her.

But even after that ordeal, and the horrendous injuries she suffered, Margaret felt she could not escape.

She was too terrified to go to the police and only escaped when he was arrested for other crimes.

She said: "I was too damn scared to do anything about it."

Then she and Tobin were picked up by police in Brighton and taken to Partick police station in Glasgow.

Margaret would not go into detail about the reasons they were arrested.

But the police swoop gave her the chance to be free of her husband.

"It was due to the police that I got away from him," she recalled. "He was left in jail and I was allowed out."

Even after being freed from his grip, Margaret has suffered for years because of what Tobin did to her.

She slowly built a new life. But, as she watched Crimewatch in 1993, she was horrified to see his face on screen.

Tobin was wanted for raping a 13-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her 14-year-old friend. But Margaret had no idea where he was and could do nothing to help police.

She tried once again to forget that Tobin had ever been in her life.

Then two years ago, she heard about Angelika Kluk's murder.

She wasn't surprised when her exhusband was blamed. She said: "Since all the publicity I've had to confront the fact that my worst fears about him were correct.

"I'd hoped the Polish girl had been the first time he'd killed. But in my heart, I knew it wasn't likely."

Police working on the case tracked Margaret down and she told them what Tobin had done to her.

The police asked if she would be prepared to give evidence at Tobin's trial but she couldn't face it.

She said: "I was reluctant to sit there and tell it again.

"They said it would add to his sentence but I thought, 'If he gets life, what difference would it make?'"

Margaret is now happy running the bed and breakfast and has settled down with Robert, her fifth husband, who she met five years ago.

But she still carries the mental scars and survivors' guilt 40 years on.

Margaret said: "Watching news footage over the last few days has been traumatic because, for so long, I've been trying to forget about him.

"Over the years he's become quite good at getting away with evil crimes.

"I've been trying to guess how muchmisery he's caused in his life.

"For all I know, when he left me alone for days at a time, coming in at all hours, he was hunting women then.

"It makes my flesh creep but I suspect the cases we know about will prove to be the tip of the iceberg.

"I could easily have been his first victim 40 years ago.

"By the time I escaped, I knew I'd married a monster but I didn't fully understand his capacity for evil.

"I'd tell myself there were plenty of evil men out there. Why should the one I knew be responsible for all the nastiness in the world?

"But I can't stop wondering whether I married the most depraved man in Britain.

"I wonder just how many lives he has ended and how I didn't end up under the floorboards or buried in a shallow grave myself."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCrnZOkv6V6wqhlrqNfo7K4v46uomavn6e5pXnNnq6sZ5iaeqy6yJ%2BcnWWdmnqiusNmo56epGK6pnnTqGSdoZVivK9506GcZpqVmXpyfI9paWlx

 Share!