Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

Bible John

Glasgow's Dark Side

Oscar Slater
Oscar Slater

Oscar Slater. An obvious miscarriage of justice was done when Slater was convicted of the bludgeoning death of an elderly Glasgow woman in 1908. Slater did not resemble the clear descriptions of the murderer provided by eyewitnesses, and the guilty verdict even drew the ire of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote a book in defense of Slater, who was eventually cleared of all charges after nearly 20 years in prison.

Archibald Hall. This Glasgow native rose from his humble birth in 1924 to working as a butler to some of Britain's elite. He would eventually murder some wealthy former employers and then quickly continue to killing his girlfriend (for not wanting to let Hall pawn some stolen jewelry) and his brother (for asking Archibald too many questions about where his money came from) before being sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

Ian Brady. Born in the Glasgow slums in 1938, Brady would pair up later in life with the late Myra Hindley and the two would commit a series of killings between 1963-65 known as the Moors Murders.

Peter Manuel
Peter Manuel

Peter Manuel. In his short life (in 1958, at the age of 32, he became the last person to be hanged in Glasgow), Manuel killed at least eight and committed numerous burglaries and assaults. Brought to trial several times during his adulthood, he was a master at skillfully providing his own defense in court and escaped conviction more than once. He shifted blame from himself so skillfully that the innocent widower of one of his first victims was temporarily jailed on suspicion of having committed Manuel's crime. His sociopathic audacity developed over time, and after killing a family of three over the New Year's holiday of 1957-8, he returned to the house frequently to rest up, help himself to holiday leftovers, and drive around the family car. He was even considerate enough to feed the murdered family's cat whenever he made one of his visits.

If Glasgow breathed a sigh of relief after Manuel's execution, that respite from a serial killer lasted only 10 years, until the corpse of a young mother named Patricia was found dumped along a quiet street.

 

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