Police in search for missing student hunt last man to see her

Handyman who gave false name to detectives disappears after questioning as body is found in church where he worked

Detectives investigating the disappearance of a Polish student were last night orchestrating a nationwide hunt for the convicted sex offender she was last seen with after a body was found in a Glasgow church.

Angelika Kluk, 23, was reported missing last Monday after she failing to turn up for the cleaning job that was to help fund her education in Poland.

Yesterday detectives from Strathclyde Police confirmed that the last person to be seen with the girl was a convicted sex offender who had been living under a false name while working as a handyman at the church.

Although police officers had spoken to him about the missing girl, he vanished by the time they realised his true identity and that he had been the last person to be seen with her.

Peter Tobin, 60, was jailed for 14 years in 1994 for raping a 14-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her friend in Hampshire. Winchester Crown Court heard he had plied the girls with drink and drugs and that one of the victims was raped while unconscious. The other collapsed and found, on coming round, that her underwear had been removed.

The assaults happened at Tobin's flat in Leigh Park, Havant, in August 1993 but he fled to Brighton, joined a religious group and, using a false name, immersed himself in its community at Stockton, Warwickshire.

About two months ago Tobin showed up in Glasgow and became involved with St Patrick's Roman Catholic church through a local homeless group, Loaves and Fishes.

Tobin, who claimed to have been living in a derelict building, gave the name Pat McLaughlin and quickly became a regular sight around the chapel as he carried out various odd jobs. It is understood that Tobin became friendly with the Polish student, who had been living at the chapel since July.

This was Ms Kluk's second summer in Glasgow, where her sister Aneta, 28, works as a secretary. She was due to return home this week and had already bought her ticket. She was last seen in the grounds of the church last Sunday afternoon where she had been helping Tobin paint a hut earlier that day.

When she was reported missing the next day police officers went to the chapel and took statements from everybody there, including Tobin, who supplied officers with a false name, address and age. Only after his disappearance a short while later was his real identity discovered.

Detectives, who claim that Tobin poses a risk to the public, have appealed for him to turn himself in to help with inquiries. His old haunts in the south of England are being watched by officers in Hampshire.

Yesterday parish priest Father Gerry Nugent said: "He had the run of the place, he could have stolen anything but he was very trustworthy.I was surprised when he didn't turn up on Tuesday."

Catherine Curran, vice chairman of Loaves and Fishes, which had put Tobin in touch with the church, said the man calling himself Mr McLaughlin first turned up one stormy night in July. "I had to take him aside one day and speak to him about his manner with some of the other members," she said. "He tried to take over and order them around."