Peter Manuel, Serial Killer

Peter Manuel's name still chills the spine of a generation in the West of Scotland. Fifty years after he was hanged in Barlinnie prison, the memory of this American-born killer is still fresh in the minds of those who lived through the two terrible years of his murderous rampage in the suburbs of Glasgow. Branded the "Beast of Birkenshaw," Manuel used skills he learned in Peterhead Prison to avoid detection and jeered at the police as they bungled their investigation, before finally being trapped by his own vanity and arrogance. Manuel was charged with eight murders but is reputed to have killed many more while on the loose. His roller-coaster trial in Glasgow High Court, billed as "the trial of the century," was headline news across the world and enthralled and astonished the nation as evidence of his terrible crimes unfolded. He implicated major underworld figures in his crimes and revealed Glasgow's sinister gangster activities in the process. More drama was to follow as he fired his legal team and set about defending himself with creditable ability. In an electrifying courtroom scene, he confronted William Watt and accused him of killing his own wife and daughter. Despite these fireworks, he was convicted of seven capital murders and sentenced to death, aged 31. A sexual predator and psychopath, Manuel's crimes confronted the police and the Scottish public with a new type of crime—the serial killer. This is his chilling story.