Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel was born in New York on March the 15th 1926 to Scottish parents. Five years later, in 1932, the family returned to Scotland and set up home in Motherwell. By the age of 10 Manuel was considered a juvenile delinquent and served his first term in custody at age 15 for sexual assault. In 1946 Manuel attacked and raped a woman for which he served nine years in Scotland’s Peterhead prison. On release in 1953 he moved to Glasgow where his parents now lived. Manuel was fascinated by American gangsters and perhaps sought to emulate them.
The 5 foot 4 inch tall Manuel had a girlfriend, Anna O'Hara, and was due to marry her on the 30th of July 1955. Fortunately for Anna she decided to break off the engagement when she found out about his criminal record. Sadly on that same day Manuel took out his anger on 29 year old Mary McLaughlan, whom he abducted and threatened to kill by decapitating her. She was able to escape him and his sexual advances and would be the only later victim to live to testify against him.
The murders.
Manuel’s killing spree began on the night of the 2nd of January 1956 when he followed 17 year old Anne Kneilands onto a golf course in East Kilbride, near where he was working at the time as a gas fitter, there he raped her and battered her to death with an iron bar. As a known sex offender Manuel was questioned but released without charge after his father provided him with an alibi. Although he later confessed to Anne’s murder he was not convicted of it.
On the 17th of September 1956 Manuel broke into the home of Marion Watt in the High Burnside district of Glasgow. Marion, 45, her sister, Margaret, 41, and Marion’s16 year old daughter Vivienne were all shot in their beds and Vivienne sexually assaulted. Manuel was on bail at this time for a burglary. Marion’s husband, William, was initially charged with the killings but was released two months later for lack of evidence. He had been away on a fishing trip on the night in question.
