Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
On 13 March 1927, Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel was born in New York City. At the time, no one could have imagined that Peter would one day be counted among Scotland’s most notorious serial killers and end up on the gallows. But first things first. Peter’s parents had left Scotland behind to pursue the American dream of going from rags to riches in the United States. But reality soon caught up with the family, who had settled in Detroit. The stock market crash of 24 October 1929 triggered a severe economic crisis in the US, prompting the family to pack their bags and return to Scotland without further ado. They moved to the village of Birkenshaw in North Lanarkshire. But Peter, who had a close relationship with his parents, found it difficult to settle into life in the Scottish village. He went off the rails at an early age and was already known to the police as a thief by the age of 10. By the age of 16, he had committed various sexual offences, which earned him a nine-year prison sentence. Peter was a womaniser, yet he never stayed with a woman for long. He loved to dominate women, yet idolised his mother. It was much the same with the family dog, whom Peter loved, yet he tormented other animals. Peter was a man full of contradictions, who even managed to successfully defend himself in 1955 at Airdrie Sheriff Court in a case where he was accused of rape. Just one year later, Peter began his killing spree, which earned him the nickname ‘The Beast of Birkenshaw’. Peter’s first murder victim was 17-year-old Anne Kneilands, whom Peter had followed from the East Kilbride golf course on 2 January 1956. He overpowered her with an iron bar. He then raped Anne and subsequently beat her to death with the iron bar. Peter then fled. Due to his status as a sex offender, Peter was questioned about Anne’s murder. However, Peter’s father Samuel provided him with an alibi. From that point on, Peter had lost all scruples about simply eliminating a person. Just a few months after Peter’s first murder, on 17 September 1956, he broke into the Watts family home in Glasgow. There he shot Marion Watts, her daughter Vivienne and her sister Margaret Brown, who was visiting. The police initially suspected Marion’s husband William, who was on a fishing trip in Ardrishaig, 90 miles away, at the time of the crime. As a ferryman on the Renfrew ferry was convinced that he had seen William on the ferry that night and a motorist had allegedly overtaken him on the Loch Lomond side, William Watt, who had had several affairs during his marriage to Marion, was arrested. He spent two months in Barlinnie Prison on remand before being released for lack of evidence. In the meantime, Peter had also been taken to the same prison for a burglary and was released at the end of November 1957. A month later, Peter had followed 17-year-old Isabelle Cooke after she had left her home in Mount Vernon to go to a ball at Uddingston Grammar School. Peter raped Isabelle and strangled her with her own underwear. He then buried her body in a field. Shortly afterwards, on New Year’s Day 1958, he broke into the Smart family home in Uddingston. There he shot 45-year-old Peter Smart, his 42-year-old wife Doris and their 10-year-old son Michael. But instead of fleeing immediately, Peter made himself at home in the Smart family’s house. He spent a week there, eating their Hogmanay dinner – Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year’s Eve celebration and the Hogmanay dinner includes all the traditional dishes of Scotland – and even the family cat’s food. When Peter had had enough of life at the Watts’ house, he stole the freshly printed banknotes that Peter Smart had withdrawn from his bank on New Year’s Eve and drove off in the Smarts’ family car. When Peter happened to come across a police officer, he took him along; the officer was in the process of investigating the disappearance of Isabelle Cooke. As Peter used the freshly printed notes, all of which were numbered, to pay in bars in and around Glasgow, the police caught on to him. On 14 January, officers from the Glasgow CID raided Peter’s family home and arrested him. To get Peter to confess, the police employed a trick. They left Peter alone in his cell for 24 hours before bringing him in for questioning. This trick actually worked, and Peter confessed to the murders of Anne Kneiland, Mario and Vivienne Watts, Margaret Brown, Isabelle Cooke and the Smart family. On 12 May 1958, the trial of 31-year-old Peter began at Glasgow High Court; after 12 days, the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging. This sentence was carried out on 11 July 1958. Peter’s last words were: “Turn up the radio and I’ll go quietly.” Peter was thus the third-to-last criminal to be executed in Scotland. Seventeen days after Peter had been hanged, a coroner’s inquest concluded that Peter was also responsible for the death of 36-year-old taxi driver Sydney Dunn. The evidence was a button found in Dunn’s taxi that matched Peter’s jacket. Dunn had been shot dead on 8 December 1957 whilst Peter was in Newcastle looking for work. As the murder took place in a different jurisdiction, Peter was never charged.
