Timeline: Vicky Hamilton murder case

Falkirk schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton disappeared after visiting her sister Sharon in Livingston almost 18 years ago.

Peter Tobin has been convicted at the High Court in Dundee for her murder, bringing to an end the 17-year police investigation. This is how events unfolded.

02 DECEMBER 2008

A jury finds Peter Tobin guilty of raping and murdering Vicky Hamilton. The 12 women and three men took just over three hours to convict him at the High Court in Dundee after a four-week trial.

3 NOVEMBER 2008

The trial at the High Court in Dundee begins.

Vicky murder trial alibi defence

30 NOVEMBER 2007

Hundreds of people attend the funeral of Vicky Hamilton which takes place at Redding Parish Church 16 years after the schoolgirl disappeared in February 1991.

Hundreds attend Vicky's funeral

15 NOVEMBER 2007

Tobin appears in court charged with Vicky's murder. He faces charges of abduction, sexual assault and murder. He is also charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

3 OCTOBER 2007

Police begin searching the former Hampshire home of Tobin

21 JULY 2007

Tobin is formally charged with the murder of Vicky Hamilton.

4 JUNE 2007

Police begin a search of Tobin's former home in Bathgate.

5 MAY 2007

Police announce plans to question Peter Tobin over the murder of Vicky Hamilton after it emerges he lived in Bathgate at the time she disappeared.

10 FEBRUARY 2007

Lothian and Borders Police issue a fresh appeal for information on the 16th anniversary of the disappearance of schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton.

15 NOVEMBER 2006

Detectives launch a fresh murder inquiry into the case of the 15-year-old from Redding in Falkirk with high hopes that advances in DNA testing can be used on her purse found 11 days after she vanished.

7 FEBRUARY 2001

Lothian and Borders police launch an operation to find out what happened to Vicky Hamilton as the tenth anniversary of her disappearance approaches.

New bid to find missing Vicky

January 1993

Jeanette Hamilton dies without knowing what happened to her daughter.

Summer 1991

The search for Vicky is scaled down after it is concluded there is no evidence of criminality in the case.

11 APRIL 1991

The case features on the BBC's Crimewatch progamme.

21 MARCH 1991

Tobin leaves Bathgate and moves to Margate through a council house mutual exchange scheme.

21 FEBRUARY 1991

Vicky Hamilton's purse is found at St Andrews Square in Edinburgh under a portable building.

0120 GMT, 11 FEBRUARY 1991

Vicky Hamilton's mother Jeanette reports her daughter missing, launching one of the largest ever missing person's inquiries in Scotland.

At its peak the investigation involves 50 officers, with large numbers of others carrying out door-to-door inquiries.

10 FEBRUARY 1991

After spending the weekend with her sister Sharon in Livingston, 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton goes missing. She is last seen waiting for a bus in Bathgate.