‘GUILTY. MANUEL TO HANG’ read the dramatic front-page headline in the Evening Times of May 29, 1958.
Large crowds had gathered outside the High Court in Glasgow to listen to the verdicts of the jury at the end of Peter Manuel's 16-day trial: a trial, said the paper, that had been the most sensational ever heard in a British court.
The jury foreman began reading out the verdicts at 4.49pm. Manuel was found guilty of the capital murders of Marion Watt, Vivienne Watt and Margaret Brown, and of Peter, Doris and Michael Smart, and of the murder of Isabelle Cooke. The judge, Lord Cameron, had directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty on a murder charge concerning Anne Kneilands.
Manuel had entered the dock prior to the verdicts being announced, chatting amiably with one of his police escorts, and looking his usual relaxed and composed self. The verdicts were announced, one by one, and as they were being recorded he looked slightly flushed. He stood in the dock, with downcast eyes. His hands were clasped together, and his fingers were seen to be moving incessantly.
The trial had of course generated enormous amounts of daily coverage. Among the many photographs published by the Glasgow Herald was the one above, of three of the detectives who had played such crucial roles in bringing Manuel to justice: Chief Inspector William Muncie of Lanarkshire CID, and his Glasgow colleagues, Detective Inspector Tom Goodall and Detective Superintendent Alexander Brown, Deputy Head of the City of Glasgow CID.
Manuel would lodge an unsuccessful appeal against his conviction. On Tuesday, July 8 he was told that there would be no reprieve.
At 8.01am on Friday, July 11, he went to his death on the scaffold at Barlinnie prison.
Read more: Herald Diary
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