Peter Manuel s name still sends a shiver down the spine of a generation in 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 terrible years of his murderous rampage in Glasgow. randed the Beast of Birkenshaw , Manuel used the cover of darkness and the skills he had learned as a housebreaker to avoid detection. He jeered at the police as they bungled their investigation, until finally he was trapped by his own vanity and arrogance. anuel was charged with eight murders but is reputed to have committed many more. His roller-coaster trial in Glasgow High Court, billed as the trial of the century , was headline news across the world and enthralled an astonished nation as evidence of his terrible crimes unfolded. He implicated major underworld figures in the case and revealed Glasgow s sinister gangster subculture in the process. anuel was a sexual predator and psychopath, and his crimes confronted the police and the Scottish public with a new type of criminal- the serial killer. He was convicted of seven murders and sentenced to death, aged thirty-one. This definit

Author Biography

Hector MacLeod is a former solicitor who served as a director of several Chinese companies while living in Hong Kong. Upon returning to the UK, he has continued to act as a business consultant in liaison with China. alcolm McLeod is the former vice principal and professor of African Studies at the University of Glasgow. Now retired, he is currently a trustee of the National Museums of Scotland.