True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

In this case I will be talking about the deaths of young children so please be aware that some of the details will be quite upsetting, I will try to be as sensitive as I can. 

So I'll start with the background into Louise Porton's life and to say there was red flags and trouble from the start, is an understatement. You know the saying ''He/She would steal off their own granny given half the chance'', well Louise Porton certainly did that, amongst other things. Born in 1997 she'd always been a problem child. Her family did their best to tolerate her strange outbursts at family gatherings but she continued to isolate herself and nobody could understand why. There was no abusive situation going on or problems in the family to give some sort of understanding as to why her behaviour was so hostile towards others.

Her attitude to the younger kids in the family was appalling, the kids would want her to play with them and join in the fun but she would scream at them and use profanities. If one of the children dare sit next to her on the sofa she would shout at them. It seemed that nobody was safe from her outbursts. As well as the shouting and bawling at the kids and the adults, she liked to cause harm to the children and then pretend she didn't touch them when they ran to the adults with tears in their eyes. It seemed that she enjoyed being sadistic, she enjoyed causing drama and upset. If there ever was birthday party or happy occasion, you could bet your bottom dollar that Louise would put a negative spin on it somehow. 

When she was 11 her Mother ran off with another man and left her and her siblings with her Father. Her Father did the best that he could as well as the family pitching in but the abandonment of her Mother was to forever leave a scar on Louise and her behaviour just continued to get worse. Her Mother attempted to have some form of contact with her later on but Louise didn't want to know, as far as she was concerned, her Mother picked her boyfriend over her kids and that was that. 

At the weekends, Louise would go to her Grandmother's house, her Grandmother was like a second Mother to her and she was always fed well and looked after. Instead of being grateful and appreciative of her Grandmother's kindness, she decided to cause mayhem at her house too and started to steal from her. When the family found out about this a storm erupted and the rot between Louise and her family continued to grow until Louise left and decided to cut her family off. 

Instead of sitting down and talking with her family or maybe looking into some form of professional help in regards to her behaviour, Louise's attitude was that it was all their fault and she was the innocent victim. In her mid to late teens she started sleeping around and getting into all sorts of trouble with various boys. She would would perform sex acts on anyone who gave her attention and if they treated her well, she'd sleep with them. Louise soon realised that she was quite popular with men because of her figure, flirty behaviour and short skirts and dresses. When one of the men she had an encounter with, gave her some money, she thought that she could make a living out of it. 

She became a sugarbaby. There are two types of sugarbabies, there is the one's who talk to men online via OnlyFans (or some other form of site) and money is exchanged but neither physically meet. Then there's the other kind that meet men in public, have dinner with them and then it's decided if sexual intercourse is going to occur. Obviously the ones who meet men for dinner will make more money if they decide to sleep with the guy. In a lot of cases where money in exchange for sex is involved, sugarbaby is a fancy way of giving this transaction a label instead of coming out with the words 'prostitute', 'Escort' or 'Hooker'. In Louise's case, she told everybody that she was a model.

She signed up to quite a few sites under the name 'Lollipop' and would talk to men, she would engage in 'sexting' (where two people exchange sexually explicit texts about what they would like to do to each other) & phonecalls, she would send nude pictures and would meet men for sexual encounters. Despite having an average appearance she managed to make a living out of it and she loved the attention. 

She began a relationship with a guy and in the beginning it all looked like she'd turned a corner and finally settled down, they had two children together but it soon turned sour and nobody knows why. All we know is that Louise left this man whilst pregnant with their second child and refused to let him near either of the girls. He didn't even get the chance to hold his baby girl. Whatever the situation was between them as a couple, the man had a right to at least have some sort of visitation right to his children especially as he posed no threat to them and was described as a decent man. People saw it as another one of Louise's games. 

Fed up with being a Mother and having responsibilities, Louise continued on with sex work, she was still young herself at only 21. Some people would say that having two kids at 21 is a lot to take on and could maybe understand why she struggled because usually at that age you're out clubbing with your friends. In Louise's case, she didn't care, she went out clubbing, she acted like she was a single, care-free, no kids type of person. The girls (Lexi, who was 3 & Scarlett who was 17 months) were either left alone in the house or she'd dump them off somewhere with either her sister or a babysitter. 

She remained hostile towards her family despite their efforts to help her with the girls. Her sister was the one who managed to get some sort of relationship with her but even then, that was hard work and the pair would often end up arguing because of Louise's lack of parenting skills. Her sister did the best she could to look after the kids whilst Louise was out and even their Mother tried her best but Louise continued to be ungrateful and took advantage of people. Whenever anyone tried to talk to her about her behaviour as a Mother, she didn't want to know, it was her way or the high way. 

As well as difficult relationships with family members, Louise had a hard time keeping friendships too. She was a toxic person to be around and it was always about what people could do for her. 

She was addicted to the sex work and the attention from the creeps who paid her for sex. They became more important than her daughters and these men (customers, sugardaddies etc) would be invited back to the very small flat that she had (it's often been described as a bedsit) and whilst her two little girls were in the same room sleeping, she would have sex with these strange men basically in front of her own kids. Some of the guys would even ask if it was ok to have sex with the kids asleep in the room, her response was ''It'll be fine, we can do it if we are quiet''. Even writing this makes me feel sick, I think anyone who could have sexual intercourse in a room where children are present is just utterly vile, I can't even find the words for it and if you are a guy who is able to 'perform' in such circumstances, well, in my book that's peadophile territory.

It's not known what was the trigger for Louise doing what she was eventually to do where the girls were concerned, she continued with the sex work no matter where the girls were. She didn't seem to care what they saw, what they heard or what danger she was putting them in. 

It was no secret that Louise hated being a Mother, despite being blessed with two beautiful little girls, she just didn't have a maternal bone in her body. She didn't have care for anyone at the best of times, all she saw and cared about was herself and although out in public she dressed the girls nice and acted like Mum of the year, at home she was verbally and physically abusing the girls. 

In the same week of January 2018, Lexi had been admitted to the hospital twice. At the first admittance Louise claimed that Lexi was having breathing difficulties, the poor little angel was in a poor state and the Medical team did what they could to help the child and on that occasion they were able to help her to pull through. Instead of being an emotional wreck at her daughter's bedside, Louise was acting like the whole thing was such an inconvenience for her. Not a tear in her eye or care, you'd think she'd be hugging the Doctors to say thank you but not a thing. Instead, whilst Lexi was in the hospital bed, Louise was on her phone talking to creepy Tom, Dick & Harry arranging meet-ups, sending nude pictures and thinking about how much money she was going to make. 

Lexi was a tough little cookie and was able to leave the hospital but Doctors were shocked to see her back again a couple of days later, this time they couldn't save her and it was heartbreaking. Louise showed no emotion and instead ran off to the bathroom to take topless pictures of herself to send to a man online in exchange for some cash. 

The heartless behaviour continued when Louise was at the funeral parlour, she was overheard laughing and joking on the phone. One of the staff noticed that she was talking to a man on FaceTime about meeting up. 

Just a few weeks after this, Louise murdered Scarlett and pretended to the paramedics that she had no idea what had happened, she told them she had the flu just like Lexi. 

Louise was trying to make out that both the girls had died from some bizarre flu-like illness and the Doctors struggled to find out what exactly caused their deaths. To anyone reading this post and to the people who knew Louise, it wouldn't be that hard to work out exactly what took place here, both of the girls dying in weeks of each other, Louise's behaviour and lack of love and care towards her kids. It was obvious and the cops investigated further and found some interesting internet searches on Louise's computer. 

Louise had been browsing in between chatting to men online. She looked up various killing methods to do with death, drowning, how to cover up a crime etc. After further investigation it was determined that both girls had died of some form of asphyxiation and Louise was arrested. 

She stood trial in 2019 and was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 32 years. When told of her fate, she simply stared down at her shoes. At no point during the trial did she show any remorse or apology what what she had done. 

Louise is currently serving her sentence in HM Prison Foston Hall in Derbyshire, England. 

In a sad and strange turn of events to the case, her estranged Mother took her own life in February 2020. It was reported that she had received a lot of online abuse because of what Louise had done and she was also tormented by what had happened. 

This was another tough case to cover and one that I found on my list of cases from a while ago. It's heartbreaking on so many levels. I think about how lucky Louise was to have had such beautiful little girls, it was her role to look after them, protect them and love them, instead she hurt these poor babies and what for? Money? Attention? The fact of the matter is, she should never have had children in the first place, knowing what we know about her now, you can imagine that she thought she would get more welfare money or something if she had kids. She certainly didn't want to be a Mother. As for her family, they expressed an interested in looking after the girls many times but Louise would have none of it. 

Why was Louise Porton the way that she was? What caused all of this? The family say there was no abuse but could it be possible that something happened to Louise somewhere away from the family home? Or was she just born evil? She never wanted to show love or be around people when she was a child so we cannot attribute this to Postnatal Depression. Louise was 21 when she murdered her children, not only has she taken these beautiful girls lives, caused her Mother to end hers and the family to be traumatised, she's wasted her own life. At 21 she was almost just a kid herself, certainly in her behaviour but that's no excuse for what she did. 

RIP Lexi and Scarlett, fly high beautiful little angels, you will never be forgotten. 

Further Reading & Sources

- Court Documents | Regina V Louise Porton

- Louise Porton | Article: BBC News

- Louise Porton | Article: Daily Mail

- Louise Porton | Article: The Sun

- Louise Porton | Article: Independent

- Louise Porton | Article: Mirror

- Louise Porton | Article: Birmingham Mail

- Louise Porton | Article: Wales Online

- Louise Porton | Article: The Guardian

- Louise Porton | Wikipedia

- Louise Porton | CCTV Footage: Daily Mail

- Louise Porton | CCTV Footage: Daily Mail

I would like to thank you as always if you've made it this far in my post, I know it's never easy to read and hear about these situations. We live in a horrible world sometimes, there is a lot of good in this world but there's a lot of evil too. There's people out there trying so hard to start a family or maybe can't afford to have one and would have given anything to have two beautiful daughters like Lexi and Scarlett. Louise is a twisted, evil and selfish narcissist and one wonders what must be going through her mind as she sits in her prison cell tonight , thinking about all those sexual favours with dirty old men for money, well that money is no use to her now. She had two of the most precious things in life that no money could ever buy and she ended their lives and threw hers away in the process. 

I hope you will join me again in my next post and I hope to see you on my Socials too.

Take care of yourselves x 

 

As you know, if you are a regular reader, I have covered many cases on this blog but I don't recall covering a 'wrongfully Accused' case before so I will be making a note to include more of them in the future but in this post I want to talk about the extraordinary and heartbreaking case of Michael Newton and the horrific death of his beloved wife Christine. The Newton family consisted of Michael, Christine and their son 3 year old Eric. A very close and loving family, they had been through many a hard time including Eric's health problems. Eric had a congenital heart defect which required regular check-ups, hospital tests and even a serious operation which fortunately, Eric was able to come through successfully much to his parents relief. 

Michael and Christine were only in their early 30s and living at a modest home in Texas, USA in the 1980s. They originally met whilst both attended Stephen F. State University and married in 1979. Eric came into their lives in 1983. 

Whilst Christine took care of Eric and made sure he had his medications and attended his Doctor's appointments, Michael was busy helping keep the family afloat by working hard. There were no problems in the marriage, if anything, the love, care and concern for Eric and his health battles, united the family even more. 

The surgery that Eric had was a very risky procedure that was why they had to wait until he was 3 years old before Surgeons could proceed, it was a very worrying time but they got through it as a family together with support from their relatives and friends. Now that they seemed to be over the worst of Eric's health journey they were looking forward to having some relaxing time as a family and looking forward to Michael's 32nd birthday. However, just 6 weeks after Eric's operation on the 13th of August 1986, a horrific bombshell was about to be dropped that nobody could have predicted. 

Just a day after celebrating his birthday with his wife and child, Michael came home from work to find Christine had been bludgeoned to death in their bed. Eric was still in the house and appeared to be unharmed. In utter shock and horror, Michael called the police and an ambulance straight away, he was frantic and distraught trying to work out what had happened and how someone could have gotten into the house. 

So much was going on all at once and Michael did what he could to help the police with their investigation whilst relatives looked after Eric. Michael had told the police everything he could and mentioned about a mysterious van that he had seen parked near his home but for some reason the cops didn't seem to want to look into it. Little Eric had also spoken about a man who came to the house that day who had a moustache. When asked if his father was there he replied 'No'. 

It was clear that Michael wasn't home the day of his wife's murder and there were quite a few pieces of evidence that needed to be looked at and investigated properly but for some reason, just weeks later, Michael found himself having the cuffs placed on him and read his rights, they arrested him for the murder of his wife Christine. 

Things just continued to get worse with Michael being put on trial and evidence of his innocence was kept hidden or ignored. They came up with a ridiculous story that Michael wanted to have sex with Christine on the night of his birthday and when she refused, he killed her and then went to work the next morning. Michael was eventually found guilty of murder in 1987 after a farce of a trial which is hard to comprehend when looking back at it now. It seemed they were determined to have this case closed and that Michael was going to be their fall guy no matter the truth. The fact is, they knew he was innocent but for some reason they cruelly let this man go down for a crime he did not commit. 

Nobody on the outside believed that Michael was guilty of Christine's murder but they didn't know what to do. Michael, being the intelligent and strong man that he was and is, decided not to just sit there and think about the wrong that he had done to him, he was determined to fight, not only to clear his name but to find the real killer of his wife. 

Michael kept a journal in prison and took part in literature and psychology courses of which he obtained a master's degree in literature and a bachelor's degree in Psychology. He pressed and pressed for more investigation into his wife's murder as well as evidence to be DNA tested, his pleas fell on deaf ears and Michael ended up spending 25 years of his life behind bars, his lawyers told him they would not give up on him. He was offered parole but only if he pleaded guilty to his wife's murder. Michael refused and explained that his innocence was all that he had and he'd rather stay in prison and fight to clear his name. 

Eventually things took a positive corner when a group called The Innocence Project together with his attorney were able to make a break through at last and have the evidence from 1986 finally tested for DNA. They were particularly interested in having a bandana (that appeared to be soaked with dried blood) tested and the results came back.....another man's DNA was found and Michael was finally released on the 4th of October 2011. 

When Michael walked out of the prison gates his battle was not over, he was determined to see justice done for Christine. The DNA found on the bandana was traced back to a man by the name of Mark Alan Norwood and it turned out that he had actually murdered another woman using the same method that he had done with Christine. He killed Debra Baker in 1988. 

Mark Alan Norwood had a long history of petty crime and being in and out of prison. He was finally convicted for both the murders of Christine and Debra and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mark was now in his 60s but it was a groundbreaking moment when he was finally convicted all those years later, a message to all cold bloodied murderers, and to innocent families looking for hope, justice can come through sometimes, even so many years later. Forensics has come on so far from how things were done back in the day and we are so extremely lucky to see that decades old cases are being solved in this day and age. 

Michael finally got the justice for Christine that he fought so many years for and for and his name to be cleared. Despite all that he had been through, he emerged as quite a remarkable human being with such strength and inspiration. Sadly, when he was in prison, he and Eric lost touch and the relationship was very difficult for a number of years but since his release, Eric and his father have bonded again. 

Michael was able to find some happiness again after all of the suffering, he met a lady called Cynthia, through his church and the pair married in 2013. 

The Michael Morton Act was signed into law in 2013 meaning that in any case, evidence must be thoroughly investigated and tested. 

The prosecutor who was involved in the cover up of evidence at Michael's trial as well as misconduct, Ken Anderson, was stripped of his position, ordered to pay $500 and spent 10 days in jail. It seemed a small price to pay for sending an innocent man (who he knew was 100% innocent) to prison for 25 years, just imagine if Michael, his lawyer and The Innocent Project had not pushed through and continued to campaign, Michael would still be behind bars right now and Mark Alan Norwood would still be out there. 

(Ken Anderson: Picture credit: Daily Mail)

It's a wonder what goes through the mind of a cold hearted man like Mark Alan Norwood, sitting by for years knowing what he had done to these innocent young women in their homes (there could be more victims? Christine was murdered in 1986, Debra in 1988, that's quite a gap between two gruesome murders), knowing the pain and grief that the families went through year after year with no answer as to who did such things and then there's Michael, taken away from his only son, his wife murdered and denied his freedom for 25 years when he did nothing. Mark Alan Norwood was responsible for destroying so many lives and it angers me that he didn't see justice until he was in his 60s, he's had time to live a life out there whilst others have suffered. 

Mark cuts a pathetic figure and he really is. Michael has emerged from his whole ordeal as somewhat of a hero, a person for the every man and a beacon of hope for anyone who is fighting for justice or who has been wrongfully accused. 

Mark wrote an incredible memoir about his life: Getting Life: An Innocent Man's 25 Year Journey From Prison To Peace. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to John Grisham has praised the book and Mark. It's an incredible book. 

I hope you found this post interesting because I do have plans to cover more similar cases in the future. I just wanted to share this incredible story with you. 

As always, I think a lot of the victims when covering cases:

RIP Christine & Debra (& also to any other possible victims of Mark Alan Norwood).

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Getting Life: An Innocent Man's 25 Year Journey From Prison To Peace: A Memoir | Book by Michael Newton

- Michael Newton | Wikipedia

- Mark Alan Norwood: Article | The Cinemaholic

- Michael Newton: Article | The Texas Tribune

- The Innocence Project

- Mark Alan Norwood: Article | Daily Mail

- Michael Newton: Article | The New York Times

- Mark Alan Norwood: Article | The Statesman

Thank you for checking out my latest post, I hope you will join me again next Sunday (Would be great to see on my Socials too) x

 (Peter Manuel. Picture credit: BBC Scotland)

You'd think that with me writing about so many serial killers over the years that I would have mentioned the horrific chap you see in the picture above, but no, he's been on my long list of cases for a while and somehow forgotten along the way until recently. What brought him back to mind? I was watching an interview with the incredible Scottish actor, Brian Cox and he was discussing his ICONIC role in the even more ICONIC 80s psychological thriller, Manhunter! 

I can't begin to tell you how much I love Manhunter and yes, I do consider The Silence of The Lambs to still be my number one movie of all time but Manhunter is a very close second. Well, Brian was talking about who he based his portrayal of Hannibal on and it was the infamous American-Scottish serial killer, Peter Manuel. I'm sure that name will ring a few bells for those of you who are from Scotland and the UK. 

To those of you who are further afield you might not be quite so familiar so that's where I step in and bring you the horrifying story of who is often described as 'Scotland's First Serial Killer'. He has also been described as 'The World's First Serial killer' but I wouldn't go that far. I'm always a bit sceptical when a serial killer is described as 'The first' because none of us really know, do we? You'd have to go way way back in time and I'm pretty sure you'd find a few serial killers floating about there. Jack The Ripper has often been described as The World's First Serial Killer. I guess it's up for debate and I can imagine, a very long discussion but that's not what this post is about, the focus here is on the calculating and evil Mr Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel. 

Peter Manuel or 'The Beast of Birkenshaw' is a serial killer who inspired other future serial killers, for example, Stephen Griffiths (The Crossbow Cannibal). I wrote a little piece about Stephen a few years ago on Instagram. It was only short and I tried to be as sensitive as possible with the details but still, people were shocked and horrified. Stephen is a British serial killer who is responsible for the deaths, mutilation and dismemberment of 3 sex workers (possibly more). He's currently serving a whole life order meaning he will never be released from prison. What added more horror to the case was the CCTV footage that was recorded outside of his apartment, he was seen chasing one of the victims down the hallway with a crossbow and a menacing look on his face.It makes for very chilling viewing and not something you forget in a hurry. 

So Peter Manuel definitely caught the attention of people not only at the time of his horrific crimes but also after death because he created such fear and devastation that it was impossible to forget and here we are decades later talking about him. When he was on the streets of Scotland it was a horrible and frightening moment in history. 

I always mention before continuing with a post that some of the details that I share will be disturbing, I know that's pretty obvious because I am writing about serial killers but still, a little reminder. 

So, Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel was originally born in New York, USA on the 13th of March 1927, his parents where from Scotland but they went over to America in hopes for a fresh start and a new life but it didn't work out. Peter already had an older brother who had stayed back in Scotland at the time. When Peter was five years old he and his parents returned to Scotland and settled in Birkenshaw, Lanarkshire. 

Red flags with Peter appeared early on in his childhood when he arrived in Scotland. There was constant trouble at school, he was bullied and began harming animals for fun. Like many serial killers I have read about who hurt animals (I can't stand any animal cruelty of any kind) they often have a pet of their own that they treasure and will never see in harms way but they seem to have no issue with harming animals that are not closely associated with them. 

It didn't take long for his behaviour to get worse as time went on, he began getting a real buzz out of stealing and soon gained a reputation by the age of ten as a little thief. Not content with pinching the odd chocolate bar or pennies out of someone's pocket, he started to progress in his career as a petty criminal and just a year later at the age of 11 he attempted to break into a shop. He was caught but this didn't deter him and he soon switched to breaking into people's houses. 

One of his favourite things to do was to break into a house in the middle of the night whilst the occupants were asleep and help himself to various items. He managed to get away with this for a while and it made him feel so clever and gave him a real kick. Eventually he was caught and because of this and the fact that he assaulted a female member of staff at school, he was sent to various institutions and again, instead of learning his lesson, he carried on as soon as he was back on the streets, only this time, the petty crime was taking an even more sinister and sickening turn. 

Having stalked the streets and houses at night, Peter knew his way around the dark alleys and country lanes and became somewhat of a Peeping Tom. If he saw a young girl on her own, he had a habit of stalking the girl, following her and when he thought the coast was clear, he'd pull the poor girl into the bushes and pull her underwear down. This became a pattern for years. He is often described as a rapist. Although no full sexual intercourse took place his actions were sexually motivated. He was impotent and his sexual assault of girls and young women would involved pulling their underwear down to expose them, leaving them nude or strangling them with their underwear. He couldn't have sexual intercourse and would get his erections and kicks by the actions of exposing his victims and killing them. 

The more thefts, crimes and sexual assaults he managed to get away with, the more powerful and confident he felt. He broke into a young woman's house one night and struck her over the head before pulling her underwear down. He was sent to prison for nine years and instead of seeing the imprisonment as punishment, he actually quite enjoyed himself and became fixated with some of the criminals who were in there with him. He'd always had an obsession with gangsters and wanted so desperately to be one. He was known to have a penchant for pinstripe suits, mafia movies and talking with an American accent (even though his accent was Scottish, he would play on his American roots). He knew of the Scottish gangsters in the prison and he wanted to become like them so he set about befriending them and made some connections. The reality was that the gangsters saw Peter Manuel as a bit of a 'fanboy' and a joke, they didn't take him seriously. 

As soon as Peter Manuel was back on the streets he made a point of hanging out at establishments where he knew the gangsters and underworld figures frequented. He looked ridiculous and didn't have much money and was becoming a bit of a pest. It was soon clear that his attempt to become one of the hard men of Glasgow & Scotland, was not working. Feeling rejected he decided he was going to continue his previous ways and pick up where he left off before he went into prison and he was determined to get his name across to these gangsters that he was not a man to be messed with. 

So here he was, a petty criminal, a violent pervert, wannabe gangster and just out of prison, what did he plan to do next? To commit murder, that's what! On the 2nd of January 1956 he stalked, sexually assaulted and murdered a 17 year old girl by the name of Anne Knielands. In September of that same year, he broke into the house of the Watt family in the middle of the night where he murdered Marion Watt (45), her sister Margaret (41) and Marion's daughter Vivienne (16). Marion's husband William was out of town on a fishing trip at the time of the murders but suspicion soon fell on him and when a witness claimed to have seen him travel overnight on a ferry, it was determined by the police that he must have sneaked off from his fishing trip in the middle of the night to come home, murder his family and return. A horrible miscarriage of justice ensued with William being sent to prison. 

Whilst William was in prison it was brought to his attention that Peter Manuel may have some information for him regarding the murder of his family. Peter began writing to Williams's lawyer and shared pieces of information about the Watts family murders, Peter claimed that a fellow inmate had confessed to him. The case against William was soon thrown out with this new information from Peter Manuel and the 'witness' admitted they couldn't be 100% sure if they saw him on the ferry that night and there was no other evidence to suggest that William had committed the murders. He was soon released and determined to get to the bottom of who murdered his family and was determined to set up a meeting with Peter Manuel who he was convinced had murdered his family. 

The crime scene at the Watts residence had similar hallmarks to Peter's previous crimes except this time murder had occurred. He had stolen some items and Vivienne had her nightdress pulled up and underwear pulled down. There was no sign that forced sexual intercourse had taken place. 

After the information about the Watts family murders came from Peter Manuel and William was released, the cops soon turned their attention to Peter but a search of his home turned up nothing. All they had was the information that he claimed had been given to him by another prisoner. Despite strong suspicions, he was released in November 1957 to carry on his evil acts. 

Not long after his release he ended up in Newcastle and murdered a cab driver by shooting him in the back of the head and slitting his throat and a young girl of just 17, Isabelle Cooke had been stalked, sexually assaulted and murdered. 

His last known victims were the Smart family. Peter (45), his wife Doris (42) and their son Michael (10) were fast asleep in their beds when Peter Manuel broke in and shot them to death. He then proceeded to ransack the house and found some money, some new notes that Peter had just gotten from the bank that he was going to use for the family's upcoming holiday. Doris had her nightdress pulled up and her underwear pulled down. As the bodies of these poor people and their little boy laid in the next room decomposing, Peter Manuel decided to hang around for a while and make himself at home. 

A friend of Michael's was supposed to stay overnight but wasn't able to make it but he did visit the family home the next day and as he knocked at the door he saw that the curtains were shut. The next time he visited the house he noticed the curtains had been opened. Nobody answered the door on either occasions but we know that Peter Manuel had been in that house just a few feet away from the family that he murdered in cold blood. 

He lived in the house for a few days, eating the family's food, feeding their cat and having baths like it was a hotel. eventually he left. 

The cops were soon on to him and once they had spoken to various witnesses that claimed to have seen Peter Manuel (who usually didn't have any money) splashing the cash around the pubs, using the same new notes that he had stolen from Peter Smart, they knew they had their man. Peter tried to make excuses and claimed that a well known gangster had actually committed the killings, when the said gangster found out, he and his associates (who already hated Peter Manuel) dug around and fed the police more information about Peter sealing his fate. He was arrested and confessed to his parents. He also claimed that he was responsible for many more murders. 

The evidence was overwhelming and Peter Manuel stood trial and (like Ted Bundy did many years later) represented himself. He was articulate, intelligent and well spoken but no amount of charm and fancy talk could take away the evidence or the reality of what he had done. Before he was sentenced, the judge said to him (also, similar to what happened in the Ted Bundy trial many years later) that if he had chosen a different path in life instead of the horrendous one that he was on, he would have made a fine lawyer. 

Peter Manuel was sentenced to death by hanging. 

He was one of the last people to be hanged in Scotland. he spent his last days listening to the radio, not saying a word until moments before his execution. He told the prison staff ''If you turn up the wireless, I'll go quietly'' 

RIP to the known victims and unknown victims of Peter Manuel. Thoughts also to the survivors and their families. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Encyclopedia of Serial Killers | Book by Michael Newton

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Big Book of Serial Killers: Volume Two | Book by Jack Rosewood

- A History of British Serial Killing | Book by Prof David Wilson

- Peter Manuel: Serial Killer | Book by Hector MacLeod

- Killers, Crooks & Cons | Book by Reg McKay

- Peter Manuel | Wikipedia

- Peter Manuel | The Police Museum

- Peter Manuel | Glasgow Times

- Peter Manuel | Documentary

- Brian Cox Interview

- Manhunter (clip)

The Peter Manual case shocked Scotland and the rest of the UK to it's core, Peter Manuel was a kind of evil that nobody had seen before. He had that frightening mix of intelligence, good looks, charisma and master manipulation that future serial killer, Ted Bundy had. The case was front page news for weeks on end during the murders and right up to his day of execution. When he was finally hanged, the people of Scotland breathed a sigh of relief. 

This case may be decades old but to this day the debate and discussions remain, was Peter Manuel insane? should he have been executed or treated for mental illness for the rest of his days? It's a conversation that divides opinion. 

To me, my opinion is, that he was a sick and evil man, there's no denying that but as for being so insane to the point that he didn't know what he was doing, I don't believe that. He pleaded his case and tried to manipulate court officials as well as investigators. He enjoyed playing games with the police and never had an ounce of remorse of what he had done. 

He does remind me of Ted Bundy in some ways in regard to his intelligence and some of his attributes. Ted Bundy played manipulative games right up until his execution by trying to pin the blame of his horrific crimes on having access to porn and adult magazines whilst growing up. 

Peter Manuel haunts Scottish history and will forever remain this dark figure who created such fear, evil and turmoil. Wannabe serial killers will continue to look to him as a sick inspiration and horror and true crime writers will continue to study and research his case for years to come. 

Thank you as always for joining me on another post. Hopefully I will see you again next time for my seventh instalment. 

Stay safe x