Peter Manuel was an American-born Scottish serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven people on the outskirts of Glasgow between January 1956 and his arrest in January 1958. He was also believed to have murdered two more people though these cases were never proven. To put this into context, in a two-year period, Manuel murdered seven or eight times in an era when there were only fourteen cases of murder on average each year in the whole of Scotland.
Prior to his arrest, the press nicknamed the unknown killer the ‘Beast of Birkenshaw,’ as he killed three members of the Watt family and three members of the Smart family as they slept in their beds.
For his crimes, Manuel was hanged in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison, being the third last convicted murderer to be executed in Scotland. Thus, the name Peter Manuel passed into Scottish folklore as a figure of horror, revulsion and fear.
Many have asked what made him kill. The answer probably was that he enjoyed it. He relished having the power of life and death over people as they were helpless to resist him.
It has also been suggested that in modern day psychological terminology, he had a super-ego. That he looked upon other people as lesser beings. That he was a psychopath. Indeed, he possessed many characteristics of a psychotic personality. He was a skilled liar, manipulative and utterly indifferent to the feelings of other people. Additionally, there were no apparent motives for the killings.
Consequently, his murderous rampage has no comparison in modern Scottish history and the Beast of Birkenshaw has become Scotland’s most infamous killer.
True Crimes Series:
Armed Robbery
Jeremy Bamber – Slaughter at White House Farm
Levi Bellfield – The Bus Stop Stalker
David Berkowitz – The Son of Sam
Ted Bundy – The College Girl Killer
Buono and Bianchi – The Hillside Stranglers
John Christie – The 10 Rillington Place Murders
Dale Cregan – Gangland Enforcer
Jeffrey Dahmer – The Milwaukee Cannibal
Joanna Dennehy – The ‘Man-Woman’ Murderer
Ruth Ellis – The Last Woman to be Hanged
Kenneth Erskine – The Stockwell Strangler
Stephen Griffiths – The Crossbow Cannibal
Anthony Hardy – The Camden Ripper
John Haigh – The Acid Bath Murders
Brady and Hindley – The Moors Murderers
Colin Ireland – The Gay Slayer
Peter Manuel – The Beast of Birkenshaw
Donald Neilson – The Black Panther
Dennis Nilsen – The Muswell Hill Murderer
Harold Shipman – Doctor Death
George Joseph Smith – Brides in the Bath
Jack the Stripper – The Hammersmith Murders
Peter Sutcliffe – The Yorkshire Ripper
Johann ‘Jack’ Unterweger – International Serial Killer
Fred and Rose West – The House of Horrors
Steve Wight – The Suffolk Strangler
Aileen Wuornos – The Hitchhiker From Hell
Australian Serial Killers
Criminals Who Become Killers
Female Serial Killers
Killers Who Kill Again In Prison
Lesbian Serial Killers
Spree Killers
Whole Life Sentences
World’s Worse Serial Killers
Prior to his arrest, the press nicknamed the unknown killer the ‘Beast of Birkenshaw,’ as he killed three members of the Watt family and three members of the Smart family as they slept in their beds.
For his crimes, Manuel was hanged in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison, being the third last convicted murderer to be executed in Scotland. Thus, the name Peter Manuel passed into Scottish folklore as a figure of horror, revulsion and fear.
Many have asked what made him kill. The answer probably was that he enjoyed it. He relished having the power of life and death over people as they were helpless to resist him.
It has also been suggested that in modern day psychological terminology, he had a super-ego. That he looked upon other people as lesser beings. That he was a psychopath. Indeed, he possessed many characteristics of a psychotic personality. He was a skilled liar, manipulative and utterly indifferent to the feelings of other people. Additionally, there were no apparent motives for the killings.
Consequently, his murderous rampage has no comparison in modern Scottish history and the Beast of Birkenshaw has become Scotland’s most infamous killer.
True Crimes Series:
Armed Robbery
Jeremy Bamber – Slaughter at White House Farm
Levi Bellfield – The Bus Stop Stalker
David Berkowitz – The Son of Sam
Ted Bundy – The College Girl Killer
Buono and Bianchi – The Hillside Stranglers
John Christie – The 10 Rillington Place Murders
Dale Cregan – Gangland Enforcer
Jeffrey Dahmer – The Milwaukee Cannibal
Joanna Dennehy – The ‘Man-Woman’ Murderer
Ruth Ellis – The Last Woman to be Hanged
Kenneth Erskine – The Stockwell Strangler
Stephen Griffiths – The Crossbow Cannibal
Anthony Hardy – The Camden Ripper
John Haigh – The Acid Bath Murders
Brady and Hindley – The Moors Murderers
Colin Ireland – The Gay Slayer
Peter Manuel – The Beast of Birkenshaw
Donald Neilson – The Black Panther
Dennis Nilsen – The Muswell Hill Murderer
Harold Shipman – Doctor Death
George Joseph Smith – Brides in the Bath
Jack the Stripper – The Hammersmith Murders
Peter Sutcliffe – The Yorkshire Ripper
Johann ‘Jack’ Unterweger – International Serial Killer
Fred and Rose West – The House of Horrors
Steve Wight – The Suffolk Strangler
Aileen Wuornos – The Hitchhiker From Hell
Australian Serial Killers
Criminals Who Become Killers
Female Serial Killers
Killers Who Kill Again In Prison
Lesbian Serial Killers
Spree Killers
Whole Life Sentences
World’s Worse Serial Killers
