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I'm Dan Tabirsky. In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York. A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast. What's the answer? And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head? Hysterical, a new podcast from Wondery and Pineapple street studios. Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad free on Wondery plus.

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena.

I'm Ash.

And this is morbid.

I don't know.

It's morning.

Morbid in the morning. Guys, I'm so tired. I stayed up all night last night. Elena and Debbie Deb came over, and we were watching that Sherri Papini documentary.

I know it was a good one.

It was good. And then you guys left before the last episode finished, and I said, fuck this, it was two hispanic women.Yeah.Like, and there were never.There was never her ex.Like, hispanic people within that. Within that area were, like, what they faced after she came out and said that is.I mean, and she didn't give a shit. Oh, no, it wasn't her problem because.Then they expose her in this documentary for a whole bunch of other racist views. I was like, girl, you're a trash human.Truly. I feel bad for the kids.I do, too. It seems like the dad is, like, pretty chill and, like, he has, like, full custody of them.And I feel bad. I feel bad for the whole. Yeah, I mean, he had anybody that was involved in this and believed that it was true and dealt with the grief that they felt for those three weeks thinking she was gone.Like, her sister, her family, everybody.Yeah, her best friend.She also just looked. She also just looked at him one day and she was, like, mad at him about, like, something. And she looked at him and she goes, I have to deal with the fact that you never found me. And, like, put it on. Like, basically, I think a lot of what she did was, like, a. Like, she sat there and watched as the nation searched for her and, like, watched her loved ones on, like, film, like, crying, sobbing, pleading with her.Knowing her kids kidnappers. Yeah. Knowing her kids have noit. No, no. But unfortunately, Peter, at this point, had evolved into, for lack of a better word, a better and smarter criminal at this point, because like I said before, he was just nothing. He was a dumbass before. So he left a ton of evidence. He would always get caught. He had evolved, unfortunately, and he had evolved into a more cunning criminal. And so detectives, you know, before detectives were able to build really strong cases against him really quick.Right.But now it's becoming harder and harder. They can't get anything on him.And his dad keeps giving him an alibi.Yes. After his release from Barley, Manuel wasted no time getting back to his criminal ways, and he was going to go bigger than ever. And he set into motion a horrifying series of events that fortunately, in the end, would eventually lead to his downfall. But it's fucking terrible that all of this had to happen for it to happen. Cause it should have happened a long time ago now, on the morning of December 9. Police responded to a call. And this was a strange call. It was a call about an abandoned taxi out in the moors in Newcastle on Tyne. I looked it up. I think that's how you say it. Newcastle on Tyne. Okay, so abandoned taxi on the Morse.Random.So they're like, it's probably not good. So when they come to the area, they find that the driver's door was wide open. So they go and look, and they see that there is a considerable amount of blood in this taxi. Oh, no. And it wasn't until hours later that they finally discovered that the driver. They discovered the driver, 36 year old Sidney Dunn, who was a Mandev, laying face down about 150 yards away in a big bunch of heather, like this big bush. And they found that his throat had been cut and he had been shot in the head.Oh, my God.So it was very violent. Veryget 10% off your first month. That's betterhelph H Dash e Dash p.com morbid listening on audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking. Find the genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore best sellers new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine without needing to set aside extra time. Theres more to imagine when you listen. If you know, you know that ive been listening to my best friends exorcism because baby, its the Weirdos Audio Book Club title of the month.As an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including latest bestsellers and even new releases. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com morbid or text morbid 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days. Audible.com Morbid.From the beginning, the investigation into this murder was really like an uphill slog. In addition to the heavy rain and snowfall that was really making it really difficult to process the crime scene, there wasn't really any evidence to be collected anyways and there was no leads. So they were just working from like zero, right? And they just couldn't move to one. Like they couldn't get anywhere. Another taxi driver, Thomas Green, did tell detectives that two men who appeared to be in their mid twenties had approached he and Dunn around 04:30 a.m. before the murderous one of them was looking for a ride to Edmund Byers and the other to New Bern. Thomas took the man going to Newbern and the man going to Edmund Byers got into Dunn's cab. Okay, now the man was described as being 25 years old, five foot eight inches tall, of swarthy complexion.What is swarthy?Yeah, with dark hair, straight and brush back. But that was really all they could get from the witness, that really good description. But, like, that's really it. That's all he had. So by the end of December, detectives have become so desperate for information that they resorted to actually, like, boots on the ground, door to door, with questionnaire in hand, to hope that someone in the neighborhood near the moors maybe heard something, saw something, anything. A coroner's inquest was held. But other than confirming the cause of death to be murderous, the jury came to really no other conclusions, and the inquest was adjourned on December 31. So they just had nothing.Just absolutely nothing.Now, while police in Newcastle were literally, like, pulling their hair out about this case, detectives back in Lanarkshire were dealing with now a new case of a missing teenage girl.Oh, no.And they saw that this case felt very familiar. Very familiar. On the evening of December, Isabel Cook left home a little after 07:00 p.m. and she was going to attend a dance.No.Does this sound already like Ann Nealon's exactly 17 years old, leaving to go to a dance? She was going to be going to a dance at the masonic hall in nearby Eddingston, and she was going to. There was a whole plan in place. She was going to be meeting her boyfriend, Douglas Bryden, and the two were gonna go to the dance together. But 45 minutes passed by the hour that they were supposed to meet up, and Isabel still hadn't shown up to meet him. So he just went inside by himself. He's like, what the heck? Which I was like. hope.And he really is. Like, this shows he'll go to the ends of the earth to be a fucking slimy piece of shit.And he just enjoys it.He does. And William Watt on the stand said. He said that Charles Tallis broke into the house. They went in and shot my wife and sister in bed. And then he broke down in tears on the stand.Yeah.Now, most damning of all, though, was the confession that Peter had voluntarily given to police. Very volunteer people wrote it down. They were detailed. They had intimate familiarity with the wat home. Like, he was in that house, all these homes. And he was in the other crimes. Same thing. He knew the layouts of the houses. He knew the details that were not reported.Yeah.And on the witness stand, Detective Robert McNeil explained the process by which they obtained this confession from me. And that included the statement Manuel made just before he confessed. He said, there is no future for me. Oh, and Manuel was alleged to have said, I have done some terrible things. I killed the girl, Nealon's at East Kilbride, and I shot the three women at the house at Burnside. And following McNeil's testimony, Manuel's confessions were read in full to the jury. They were like, you're. You gave these. We're not taking them out. On May 22, Peter Manuel shocked the court again because he dismissed his entire defense counsel and said, I'm going to act in my own defense.Oh, no, no, honey.We always know how this goes. After a brief recess, Harold Leslie addressed the judge, saying, I am no longer in a position with my colleagues to continue the cause, the panel being desirous of conducting the remainder of the trial. So he was like, peace deuces. In other words, he was fired. The judge allowed the change, but he insisted that the other two defense lawyers, Fearnes and Dougherty, needed to remain close by to possibly assist if needed. Okay. But it came very clear I'd be pissed. I was just gonna say no.I'd be like, I just got fired in front of everybody, this guy.Yeah, see ya.See, he can sink his own ship.You can sink your own fucking ship. And Peter didn't want their help. Yeah, he made it clear he fired them. Yeah. And he never used their help. He didn't want it.So it's like, I just have to sit here and watch this.Now, apparently, Peter Manuel had done this before. He had defended himself in court before. Several years earlier, he defended himself in a rape case in Airdrie sheriff court, and he was unsuccessful. He went to prison for that one. That's great. Now, regardless of what happened throughout this whole thing, apparently he had a lot of confidence. He was very charming in court, and he impressed even the most successfully experienced lawyers watching the trial, according to Joe. Joe Beltrami, who was a very prominent scottish lawyer who saw the trial. He said, judge Lord Cameron said he was surprised at the standard and skill of the accused, and so was I. His cross examination was quite skillful and well thought out, which is like nuts. But remember, Peter Manuel is pretty brighten. He was bright in school. He just really just didn't apply himself. But he was very bright.Sounds like Ted Bundy.Yeah. Now, confident or not, the prosecution's case against Manuel was just too strong.Yeah.They had built a considerable amount of.Evidence, like, literally led them to a body.Yeah, it was very compelling. They didn't need to do a whole lot. But Peter Manuel's defense, on the other hand, was, I didn't do it.Okay.Which is. Which is strange when you've confessed voluntarily, verbally and in writing. But when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refuted everything that he'd previously stated or confessed, and he fell back on that old habit of just saying, it's everyone else's fault.Oh, okay.It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Final arguments were given on May 29, and the jury took barely 2 hours before returning. Guilty verdicts on seven counts of murderous, six counts of capital murder for the watten smart families, one count of non capital murder for Isabel Cook. And what kills me is in the case of Ann Nealons. The jury felt the evidence did not make the case, and he was not found guilty.That's shitty.Yeah. Now, when the verdict was read, the courtroom went nuts. And there was like 100 plus reporters in the courtroom too. And they all just ran out of there to go type up their fucking thing for, you know, the next thing. But Judge Lord Cameron wasted no time passing sentence. He said, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to the prison of Bar Liney, Glasgow, therein to be detained until the 19th day of June next. And upon that day, in the said prison of Barlini, Glasgow. And between the hours of eight and 10:00, you suffer death by hanging, which is pronounced for doom.Fuck.Which, like. Which is pronounced for doom. I'm like, damn. You guys know they got that good shit. You have a grasp on that language. Like, it just, you know how to make it like, dun dun dun. After passing the sentence, Lord Cameron just dismissed the jury. Adjourned the adjoin. The adjourned. I was like, adjoined, adjourned, adjourned the court and refused Peter Manuel the opportunity to make a statement. Love was literally like, shut the fuck up. You've talked enough.Yeah.So for several years, the crimes of Peter Manuel captivated the attention of the public across UK. Who wouldn't be right? But once the trial ended and everybody was kind of satisfied, he had been sentenced, he had been found guilty. Everything. He got what he deserved. Attention kind of, like, shifted away. So, like, you know, other stuff was happening. So they just kind of were like, fuck. Peter Manuel. By.Yeah.When the day of his execution arrived on July 11, 1958, the Evening Times reported, quote, as the hands of the prison clock pointed to the execution hour, fewer than a dozen people stood silently outside the prison. There was no demonstration, no protest by opponents of capital punishment. As the final act was carried out under due process of law. At 08:00 a.m. the executioner pulled the lever. Down he went. He was gone. Hanged to death. And the people of Scotland were finally free of the beast of Berkinshaw.Damn.Fuck. Peter.It's the fact that, like, less than twelve people were.Nobody gave a shit anymore. They didn't even need to see him die. They were just like, whatever, deuces. You're gone, you stupid bitch.Oh, what a case, though. He. Yeah, just.Just the fact that it's.There's no reason for murder ever. But his was specifically so senseless and.Yeah.No victim profile. No. Just like, killed to kill.Yeah, it was. His crimes were so fucking senseless and so brutal.Yeah.Like you said, like, the fact that he didn't have a victim profile.So he's really freaky.Like, any. It was like a Richard Ramirez.Yeah.Nobody was safe.Yeah. Like the break.No, he would go after couples, kids, women, men, families. Like, didn't matter who you were, where you were, what was going on. If he could get you, he was gonna get you.And it's like, so scary.That's so scary.Yeah.And that, um. That McLeod source that I was talking about in the first part. And this one is Peter Manuel, serial killer. And it's by Hector McLeod. And we'll link it, obviously, in the sources, but we used it a lot. But, yeah, it's a wild case and one of Scotland's worst serial killers.I mean. Yeah. Yeah, he was a lot.And scottish listeners let me know if I said Ballyeston correctly or Ballyiston. I think. I think you had said Bally Eston. Yeah, I hope I did feel scottish. It felt good.We're thinking of Bailey.No, Bailey. Bailey's from a shoe, so we'll see. But, yeah, horrible, horrible case. Yeah, but he got his in the end. Yeah, yeah.And with that.Yeah, I hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but.Not so weird that you break into people's homes and kill them, because.Whoa. Because what?That's horrible.Yeah.Oh, my gourd. Oh, my God.If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.From Wondery I'm Indravama, and this is the spy who this season, we open the file on Oleg Penkowski, the spy who defused the missile crisis. It's 1960, and the world's on the brink of nuclear war. However, one man in Moscow is about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkowski. As a cold war double agent, Penkovsky wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union's greatest nuclear secrets. But is this man putting his life on the line to save the world? Or is he part of an elaborate trap? Follow the spy who on the wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of the spy who defused the missile crisis early and ad free with wondry Plus.

it was two hispanic women.

Yeah.

Like, and there were never.

There was never her ex.

Like, hispanic people within that. Within that area were, like, what they faced after she came out and said that is.

I mean, and she didn't give a shit. Oh, no, it wasn't her problem because.

Then they expose her in this documentary for a whole bunch of other racist views. I was like, girl, you're a trash human.

Truly. I feel bad for the kids.

I do, too. It seems like the dad is, like, pretty chill and, like, he has, like, full custody of them.

And I feel bad. I feel bad for the whole. Yeah, I mean, he had anybody that was involved in this and believed that it was true and dealt with the grief that they felt for those three weeks thinking she was gone.

Like, her sister, her family, everybody.

Yeah, her best friend.

She also just looked. She also just looked at him one day and she was, like, mad at him about, like, something. And she looked at him and she goes, I have to deal with the fact that you never found me. And, like, put it on. Like, basically, I think a lot of what she did was, like, a. Like, she sat there and watched as the nation searched for her and, like, watched her loved ones on, like, film, like, crying, sobbing, pleading with her.

Knowing her kids kidnappers. Yeah. Knowing her kids have noit. No, no. But unfortunately, Peter, at this point, had evolved into, for lack of a better word, a better and smarter criminal at this point, because like I said before, he was just nothing. He was a dumbass before. So he left a ton of evidence. He would always get caught. He had evolved, unfortunately, and he had evolved into a more cunning criminal. And so detectives, you know, before detectives were able to build really strong cases against him really quick.Right.But now it's becoming harder and harder. They can't get anything on him.And his dad keeps giving him an alibi.Yes. After his release from Barley, Manuel wasted no time getting back to his criminal ways, and he was going to go bigger than ever. And he set into motion a horrifying series of events that fortunately, in the end, would eventually lead to his downfall. But it's fucking terrible that all of this had to happen for it to happen. Cause it should have happened a long time ago now, on the morning of December 9. Police responded to a call. And this was a strange call. It was a call about an abandoned taxi out in the moors in Newcastle on Tyne. I looked it up. I think that's how you say it. Newcastle on Tyne. Okay, so abandoned taxi on the Morse.Random.So they're like, it's probably not good. So when they come to the area, they find that the driver's door was wide open. So they go and look, and they see that there is a considerable amount of blood in this taxi. Oh, no. And it wasn't until hours later that they finally discovered that the driver. They discovered the driver, 36 year old Sidney Dunn, who was a Mandev, laying face down about 150 yards away in a big bunch of heather, like this big bush. And they found that his throat had been cut and he had been shot in the head.Oh, my God.So it was very violent. Veryget 10% off your first month. That's betterhelph H Dash e Dash p.com morbid listening on audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking. Find the genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore best sellers new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine without needing to set aside extra time. Theres more to imagine when you listen. If you know, you know that ive been listening to my best friends exorcism because baby, its the Weirdos Audio Book Club title of the month.As an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including latest bestsellers and even new releases. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com morbid or text morbid 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days. Audible.com Morbid.From the beginning, the investigation into this murder was really like an uphill slog. In addition to the heavy rain and snowfall that was really making it really difficult to process the crime scene, there wasn't really any evidence to be collected anyways and there was no leads. So they were just working from like zero, right? And they just couldn't move to one. Like they couldn't get anywhere. Another taxi driver, Thomas Green, did tell detectives that two men who appeared to be in their mid twenties had approached he and Dunn around 04:30 a.m. before the murderous one of them was looking for a ride to Edmund Byers and the other to New Bern. Thomas took the man going to Newbern and the man going to Edmund Byers got into Dunn's cab. Okay, now the man was described as being 25 years old, five foot eight inches tall, of swarthy complexion.What is swarthy?Yeah, with dark hair, straight and brush back. But that was really all they could get from the witness, that really good description. But, like, that's really it. That's all he had. So by the end of December, detectives have become so desperate for information that they resorted to actually, like, boots on the ground, door to door, with questionnaire in hand, to hope that someone in the neighborhood near the moors maybe heard something, saw something, anything. A coroner's inquest was held. But other than confirming the cause of death to be murderous, the jury came to really no other conclusions, and the inquest was adjourned on December 31. So they just had nothing.Just absolutely nothing.Now, while police in Newcastle were literally, like, pulling their hair out about this case, detectives back in Lanarkshire were dealing with now a new case of a missing teenage girl.Oh, no.And they saw that this case felt very familiar. Very familiar. On the evening of December, Isabel Cook left home a little after 07:00 p.m. and she was going to attend a dance.No.Does this sound already like Ann Nealon's exactly 17 years old, leaving to go to a dance? She was going to be going to a dance at the masonic hall in nearby Eddingston, and she was going to. There was a whole plan in place. She was going to be meeting her boyfriend, Douglas Bryden, and the two were gonna go to the dance together. But 45 minutes passed by the hour that they were supposed to meet up, and Isabel still hadn't shown up to meet him. So he just went inside by himself. He's like, what the heck? Which I was like. hope.And he really is. Like, this shows he'll go to the ends of the earth to be a fucking slimy piece of shit.And he just enjoys it.He does. And William Watt on the stand said. He said that Charles Tallis broke into the house. They went in and shot my wife and sister in bed. And then he broke down in tears on the stand.Yeah.Now, most damning of all, though, was the confession that Peter had voluntarily given to police. Very volunteer people wrote it down. They were detailed. They had intimate familiarity with the wat home. Like, he was in that house, all these homes. And he was in the other crimes. Same thing. He knew the layouts of the houses. He knew the details that were not reported.Yeah.And on the witness stand, Detective Robert McNeil explained the process by which they obtained this confession from me. And that included the statement Manuel made just before he confessed. He said, there is no future for me. Oh, and Manuel was alleged to have said, I have done some terrible things. I killed the girl, Nealon's at East Kilbride, and I shot the three women at the house at Burnside. And following McNeil's testimony, Manuel's confessions were read in full to the jury. They were like, you're. You gave these. We're not taking them out. On May 22, Peter Manuel shocked the court again because he dismissed his entire defense counsel and said, I'm going to act in my own defense.Oh, no, no, honey.We always know how this goes. After a brief recess, Harold Leslie addressed the judge, saying, I am no longer in a position with my colleagues to continue the cause, the panel being desirous of conducting the remainder of the trial. So he was like, peace deuces. In other words, he was fired. The judge allowed the change, but he insisted that the other two defense lawyers, Fearnes and Dougherty, needed to remain close by to possibly assist if needed. Okay. But it came very clear I'd be pissed. I was just gonna say no.I'd be like, I just got fired in front of everybody, this guy.Yeah, see ya.See, he can sink his own ship.You can sink your own fucking ship. And Peter didn't want their help. Yeah, he made it clear he fired them. Yeah. And he never used their help. He didn't want it.So it's like, I just have to sit here and watch this.Now, apparently, Peter Manuel had done this before. He had defended himself in court before. Several years earlier, he defended himself in a rape case in Airdrie sheriff court, and he was unsuccessful. He went to prison for that one. That's great. Now, regardless of what happened throughout this whole thing, apparently he had a lot of confidence. He was very charming in court, and he impressed even the most successfully experienced lawyers watching the trial, according to Joe. Joe Beltrami, who was a very prominent scottish lawyer who saw the trial. He said, judge Lord Cameron said he was surprised at the standard and skill of the accused, and so was I. His cross examination was quite skillful and well thought out, which is like nuts. But remember, Peter Manuel is pretty brighten. He was bright in school. He just really just didn't apply himself. But he was very bright.Sounds like Ted Bundy.Yeah. Now, confident or not, the prosecution's case against Manuel was just too strong.Yeah.They had built a considerable amount of.Evidence, like, literally led them to a body.Yeah, it was very compelling. They didn't need to do a whole lot. But Peter Manuel's defense, on the other hand, was, I didn't do it.Okay.Which is. Which is strange when you've confessed voluntarily, verbally and in writing. But when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refuted everything that he'd previously stated or confessed, and he fell back on that old habit of just saying, it's everyone else's fault.Oh, okay.It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Final arguments were given on May 29, and the jury took barely 2 hours before returning. Guilty verdicts on seven counts of murderous, six counts of capital murder for the watten smart families, one count of non capital murder for Isabel Cook. And what kills me is in the case of Ann Nealons. The jury felt the evidence did not make the case, and he was not found guilty.That's shitty.Yeah. Now, when the verdict was read, the courtroom went nuts. And there was like 100 plus reporters in the courtroom too. And they all just ran out of there to go type up their fucking thing for, you know, the next thing. But Judge Lord Cameron wasted no time passing sentence. He said, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to the prison of Bar Liney, Glasgow, therein to be detained until the 19th day of June next. And upon that day, in the said prison of Barlini, Glasgow. And between the hours of eight and 10:00, you suffer death by hanging, which is pronounced for doom.Fuck.Which, like. Which is pronounced for doom. I'm like, damn. You guys know they got that good shit. You have a grasp on that language. Like, it just, you know how to make it like, dun dun dun. After passing the sentence, Lord Cameron just dismissed the jury. Adjourned the adjoin. The adjourned. I was like, adjoined, adjourned, adjourned the court and refused Peter Manuel the opportunity to make a statement. Love was literally like, shut the fuck up. You've talked enough.Yeah.So for several years, the crimes of Peter Manuel captivated the attention of the public across UK. Who wouldn't be right? But once the trial ended and everybody was kind of satisfied, he had been sentenced, he had been found guilty. Everything. He got what he deserved. Attention kind of, like, shifted away. So, like, you know, other stuff was happening. So they just kind of were like, fuck. Peter Manuel. By.Yeah.When the day of his execution arrived on July 11, 1958, the Evening Times reported, quote, as the hands of the prison clock pointed to the execution hour, fewer than a dozen people stood silently outside the prison. There was no demonstration, no protest by opponents of capital punishment. As the final act was carried out under due process of law. At 08:00 a.m. the executioner pulled the lever. Down he went. He was gone. Hanged to death. And the people of Scotland were finally free of the beast of Berkinshaw.Damn.Fuck. Peter.It's the fact that, like, less than twelve people were.Nobody gave a shit anymore. They didn't even need to see him die. They were just like, whatever, deuces. You're gone, you stupid bitch.Oh, what a case, though. He. Yeah, just.Just the fact that it's.There's no reason for murder ever. But his was specifically so senseless and.Yeah.No victim profile. No. Just like, killed to kill.Yeah, it was. His crimes were so fucking senseless and so brutal.Yeah.Like you said, like, the fact that he didn't have a victim profile.So he's really freaky.Like, any. It was like a Richard Ramirez.Yeah.Nobody was safe.Yeah. Like the break.No, he would go after couples, kids, women, men, families. Like, didn't matter who you were, where you were, what was going on. If he could get you, he was gonna get you.And it's like, so scary.That's so scary.Yeah.And that, um. That McLeod source that I was talking about in the first part. And this one is Peter Manuel, serial killer. And it's by Hector McLeod. And we'll link it, obviously, in the sources, but we used it a lot. But, yeah, it's a wild case and one of Scotland's worst serial killers.I mean. Yeah. Yeah, he was a lot.And scottish listeners let me know if I said Ballyeston correctly or Ballyiston. I think. I think you had said Bally Eston. Yeah, I hope I did feel scottish. It felt good.We're thinking of Bailey.No, Bailey. Bailey's from a shoe, so we'll see. But, yeah, horrible, horrible case. Yeah, but he got his in the end. Yeah, yeah.And with that.Yeah, I hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but.Not so weird that you break into people's homes and kill them, because.Whoa. Because what?That's horrible.Yeah.Oh, my gourd. Oh, my God.If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.From Wondery I'm Indravama, and this is the spy who this season, we open the file on Oleg Penkowski, the spy who defused the missile crisis. It's 1960, and the world's on the brink of nuclear war. However, one man in Moscow is about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkowski. As a cold war double agent, Penkovsky wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union's greatest nuclear secrets. But is this man putting his life on the line to save the world? Or is he part of an elaborate trap? Follow the spy who on the wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of the spy who defused the missile crisis early and ad free with wondry Plus.

it. No, no. But unfortunately, Peter, at this point, had evolved into, for lack of a better word, a better and smarter criminal at this point, because like I said before, he was just nothing. He was a dumbass before. So he left a ton of evidence. He would always get caught. He had evolved, unfortunately, and he had evolved into a more cunning criminal. And so detectives, you know, before detectives were able to build really strong cases against him really quick.

Right.

But now it's becoming harder and harder. They can't get anything on him.

And his dad keeps giving him an alibi.

Yes. After his release from Barley, Manuel wasted no time getting back to his criminal ways, and he was going to go bigger than ever. And he set into motion a horrifying series of events that fortunately, in the end, would eventually lead to his downfall. But it's fucking terrible that all of this had to happen for it to happen. Cause it should have happened a long time ago now, on the morning of December 9. Police responded to a call. And this was a strange call. It was a call about an abandoned taxi out in the moors in Newcastle on Tyne. I looked it up. I think that's how you say it. Newcastle on Tyne. Okay, so abandoned taxi on the Morse.

Random.

So they're like, it's probably not good. So when they come to the area, they find that the driver's door was wide open. So they go and look, and they see that there is a considerable amount of blood in this taxi. Oh, no. And it wasn't until hours later that they finally discovered that the driver. They discovered the driver, 36 year old Sidney Dunn, who was a Mandev, laying face down about 150 yards away in a big bunch of heather, like this big bush. And they found that his throat had been cut and he had been shot in the head.

Oh, my God.

So it was very violent. Veryget 10% off your first month. That's betterhelph H Dash e Dash p.com morbid listening on audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking. Find the genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore best sellers new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine without needing to set aside extra time. Theres more to imagine when you listen. If you know, you know that ive been listening to my best friends exorcism because baby, its the Weirdos Audio Book Club title of the month.As an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including latest bestsellers and even new releases. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com morbid or text morbid 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days. Audible.com Morbid.From the beginning, the investigation into this murder was really like an uphill slog. In addition to the heavy rain and snowfall that was really making it really difficult to process the crime scene, there wasn't really any evidence to be collected anyways and there was no leads. So they were just working from like zero, right? And they just couldn't move to one. Like they couldn't get anywhere. Another taxi driver, Thomas Green, did tell detectives that two men who appeared to be in their mid twenties had approached he and Dunn around 04:30 a.m. before the murderous one of them was looking for a ride to Edmund Byers and the other to New Bern. Thomas took the man going to Newbern and the man going to Edmund Byers got into Dunn's cab. Okay, now the man was described as being 25 years old, five foot eight inches tall, of swarthy complexion.What is swarthy?Yeah, with dark hair, straight and brush back. But that was really all they could get from the witness, that really good description. But, like, that's really it. That's all he had. So by the end of December, detectives have become so desperate for information that they resorted to actually, like, boots on the ground, door to door, with questionnaire in hand, to hope that someone in the neighborhood near the moors maybe heard something, saw something, anything. A coroner's inquest was held. But other than confirming the cause of death to be murderous, the jury came to really no other conclusions, and the inquest was adjourned on December 31. So they just had nothing.Just absolutely nothing.Now, while police in Newcastle were literally, like, pulling their hair out about this case, detectives back in Lanarkshire were dealing with now a new case of a missing teenage girl.Oh, no.And they saw that this case felt very familiar. Very familiar. On the evening of December, Isabel Cook left home a little after 07:00 p.m. and she was going to attend a dance.No.Does this sound already like Ann Nealon's exactly 17 years old, leaving to go to a dance? She was going to be going to a dance at the masonic hall in nearby Eddingston, and she was going to. There was a whole plan in place. She was going to be meeting her boyfriend, Douglas Bryden, and the two were gonna go to the dance together. But 45 minutes passed by the hour that they were supposed to meet up, and Isabel still hadn't shown up to meet him. So he just went inside by himself. He's like, what the heck? Which I was like. hope.And he really is. Like, this shows he'll go to the ends of the earth to be a fucking slimy piece of shit.And he just enjoys it.He does. And William Watt on the stand said. He said that Charles Tallis broke into the house. They went in and shot my wife and sister in bed. And then he broke down in tears on the stand.Yeah.Now, most damning of all, though, was the confession that Peter had voluntarily given to police. Very volunteer people wrote it down. They were detailed. They had intimate familiarity with the wat home. Like, he was in that house, all these homes. And he was in the other crimes. Same thing. He knew the layouts of the houses. He knew the details that were not reported.Yeah.And on the witness stand, Detective Robert McNeil explained the process by which they obtained this confession from me. And that included the statement Manuel made just before he confessed. He said, there is no future for me. Oh, and Manuel was alleged to have said, I have done some terrible things. I killed the girl, Nealon's at East Kilbride, and I shot the three women at the house at Burnside. And following McNeil's testimony, Manuel's confessions were read in full to the jury. They were like, you're. You gave these. We're not taking them out. On May 22, Peter Manuel shocked the court again because he dismissed his entire defense counsel and said, I'm going to act in my own defense.Oh, no, no, honey.We always know how this goes. After a brief recess, Harold Leslie addressed the judge, saying, I am no longer in a position with my colleagues to continue the cause, the panel being desirous of conducting the remainder of the trial. So he was like, peace deuces. In other words, he was fired. The judge allowed the change, but he insisted that the other two defense lawyers, Fearnes and Dougherty, needed to remain close by to possibly assist if needed. Okay. But it came very clear I'd be pissed. I was just gonna say no.I'd be like, I just got fired in front of everybody, this guy.Yeah, see ya.See, he can sink his own ship.You can sink your own fucking ship. And Peter didn't want their help. Yeah, he made it clear he fired them. Yeah. And he never used their help. He didn't want it.So it's like, I just have to sit here and watch this.Now, apparently, Peter Manuel had done this before. He had defended himself in court before. Several years earlier, he defended himself in a rape case in Airdrie sheriff court, and he was unsuccessful. He went to prison for that one. That's great. Now, regardless of what happened throughout this whole thing, apparently he had a lot of confidence. He was very charming in court, and he impressed even the most successfully experienced lawyers watching the trial, according to Joe. Joe Beltrami, who was a very prominent scottish lawyer who saw the trial. He said, judge Lord Cameron said he was surprised at the standard and skill of the accused, and so was I. His cross examination was quite skillful and well thought out, which is like nuts. But remember, Peter Manuel is pretty brighten. He was bright in school. He just really just didn't apply himself. But he was very bright.Sounds like Ted Bundy.Yeah. Now, confident or not, the prosecution's case against Manuel was just too strong.Yeah.They had built a considerable amount of.Evidence, like, literally led them to a body.Yeah, it was very compelling. They didn't need to do a whole lot. But Peter Manuel's defense, on the other hand, was, I didn't do it.Okay.Which is. Which is strange when you've confessed voluntarily, verbally and in writing. But when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refuted everything that he'd previously stated or confessed, and he fell back on that old habit of just saying, it's everyone else's fault.Oh, okay.It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Final arguments were given on May 29, and the jury took barely 2 hours before returning. Guilty verdicts on seven counts of murderous, six counts of capital murder for the watten smart families, one count of non capital murder for Isabel Cook. And what kills me is in the case of Ann Nealons. The jury felt the evidence did not make the case, and he was not found guilty.That's shitty.Yeah. Now, when the verdict was read, the courtroom went nuts. And there was like 100 plus reporters in the courtroom too. And they all just ran out of there to go type up their fucking thing for, you know, the next thing. But Judge Lord Cameron wasted no time passing sentence. He said, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to the prison of Bar Liney, Glasgow, therein to be detained until the 19th day of June next. And upon that day, in the said prison of Barlini, Glasgow. And between the hours of eight and 10:00, you suffer death by hanging, which is pronounced for doom.Fuck.Which, like. Which is pronounced for doom. I'm like, damn. You guys know they got that good shit. You have a grasp on that language. Like, it just, you know how to make it like, dun dun dun. After passing the sentence, Lord Cameron just dismissed the jury. Adjourned the adjoin. The adjourned. I was like, adjoined, adjourned, adjourned the court and refused Peter Manuel the opportunity to make a statement. Love was literally like, shut the fuck up. You've talked enough.Yeah.So for several years, the crimes of Peter Manuel captivated the attention of the public across UK. Who wouldn't be right? But once the trial ended and everybody was kind of satisfied, he had been sentenced, he had been found guilty. Everything. He got what he deserved. Attention kind of, like, shifted away. So, like, you know, other stuff was happening. So they just kind of were like, fuck. Peter Manuel. By.Yeah.When the day of his execution arrived on July 11, 1958, the Evening Times reported, quote, as the hands of the prison clock pointed to the execution hour, fewer than a dozen people stood silently outside the prison. There was no demonstration, no protest by opponents of capital punishment. As the final act was carried out under due process of law. At 08:00 a.m. the executioner pulled the lever. Down he went. He was gone. Hanged to death. And the people of Scotland were finally free of the beast of Berkinshaw.Damn.Fuck. Peter.It's the fact that, like, less than twelve people were.Nobody gave a shit anymore. They didn't even need to see him die. They were just like, whatever, deuces. You're gone, you stupid bitch.Oh, what a case, though. He. Yeah, just.Just the fact that it's.There's no reason for murder ever. But his was specifically so senseless and.Yeah.No victim profile. No. Just like, killed to kill.Yeah, it was. His crimes were so fucking senseless and so brutal.Yeah.Like you said, like, the fact that he didn't have a victim profile.So he's really freaky.Like, any. It was like a Richard Ramirez.Yeah.Nobody was safe.Yeah. Like the break.No, he would go after couples, kids, women, men, families. Like, didn't matter who you were, where you were, what was going on. If he could get you, he was gonna get you.And it's like, so scary.That's so scary.Yeah.And that, um. That McLeod source that I was talking about in the first part. And this one is Peter Manuel, serial killer. And it's by Hector McLeod. And we'll link it, obviously, in the sources, but we used it a lot. But, yeah, it's a wild case and one of Scotland's worst serial killers.I mean. Yeah. Yeah, he was a lot.And scottish listeners let me know if I said Ballyeston correctly or Ballyiston. I think. I think you had said Bally Eston. Yeah, I hope I did feel scottish. It felt good.We're thinking of Bailey.No, Bailey. Bailey's from a shoe, so we'll see. But, yeah, horrible, horrible case. Yeah, but he got his in the end. Yeah, yeah.And with that.Yeah, I hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but.Not so weird that you break into people's homes and kill them, because.Whoa. Because what?That's horrible.Yeah.Oh, my gourd. Oh, my God.If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.From Wondery I'm Indravama, and this is the spy who this season, we open the file on Oleg Penkowski, the spy who defused the missile crisis. It's 1960, and the world's on the brink of nuclear war. However, one man in Moscow is about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkowski. As a cold war double agent, Penkovsky wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union's greatest nuclear secrets. But is this man putting his life on the line to save the world? Or is he part of an elaborate trap? Follow the spy who on the wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of the spy who defused the missile crisis early and ad free with wondry Plus.

get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelph H Dash e Dash p.com morbid listening on audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking. Find the genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore best sellers new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine without needing to set aside extra time. Theres more to imagine when you listen. If you know, you know that ive been listening to my best friends exorcism because baby, its the Weirdos Audio Book Club title of the month.

As an audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including latest bestsellers and even new releases. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com morbid or text morbid 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days. Audible.com Morbid.

From the beginning, the investigation into this murder was really like an uphill slog. In addition to the heavy rain and snowfall that was really making it really difficult to process the crime scene, there wasn't really any evidence to be collected anyways and there was no leads. So they were just working from like zero, right? And they just couldn't move to one. Like they couldn't get anywhere. Another taxi driver, Thomas Green, did tell detectives that two men who appeared to be in their mid twenties had approached he and Dunn around 04:30 a.m. before the murderous one of them was looking for a ride to Edmund Byers and the other to New Bern. Thomas took the man going to Newbern and the man going to Edmund Byers got into Dunn's cab. Okay, now the man was described as being 25 years old, five foot eight inches tall, of swarthy complexion.

What is swarthy?

Yeah, with dark hair, straight and brush back. But that was really all they could get from the witness, that really good description. But, like, that's really it. That's all he had. So by the end of December, detectives have become so desperate for information that they resorted to actually, like, boots on the ground, door to door, with questionnaire in hand, to hope that someone in the neighborhood near the moors maybe heard something, saw something, anything. A coroner's inquest was held. But other than confirming the cause of death to be murderous, the jury came to really no other conclusions, and the inquest was adjourned on December 31. So they just had nothing.

Just absolutely nothing.

Now, while police in Newcastle were literally, like, pulling their hair out about this case, detectives back in Lanarkshire were dealing with now a new case of a missing teenage girl.

Oh, no.

And they saw that this case felt very familiar. Very familiar. On the evening of December, Isabel Cook left home a little after 07:00 p.m. and she was going to attend a dance.

No.

Does this sound already like Ann Nealon's exactly 17 years old, leaving to go to a dance? She was going to be going to a dance at the masonic hall in nearby Eddingston, and she was going to. There was a whole plan in place. She was going to be meeting her boyfriend, Douglas Bryden, and the two were gonna go to the dance together. But 45 minutes passed by the hour that they were supposed to meet up, and Isabel still hadn't shown up to meet him. So he just went inside by himself. He's like, what the heck? Which I was like. hope.And he really is. Like, this shows he'll go to the ends of the earth to be a fucking slimy piece of shit.And he just enjoys it.He does. And William Watt on the stand said. He said that Charles Tallis broke into the house. They went in and shot my wife and sister in bed. And then he broke down in tears on the stand.Yeah.Now, most damning of all, though, was the confession that Peter had voluntarily given to police. Very volunteer people wrote it down. They were detailed. They had intimate familiarity with the wat home. Like, he was in that house, all these homes. And he was in the other crimes. Same thing. He knew the layouts of the houses. He knew the details that were not reported.Yeah.And on the witness stand, Detective Robert McNeil explained the process by which they obtained this confession from me. And that included the statement Manuel made just before he confessed. He said, there is no future for me. Oh, and Manuel was alleged to have said, I have done some terrible things. I killed the girl, Nealon's at East Kilbride, and I shot the three women at the house at Burnside. And following McNeil's testimony, Manuel's confessions were read in full to the jury. They were like, you're. You gave these. We're not taking them out. On May 22, Peter Manuel shocked the court again because he dismissed his entire defense counsel and said, I'm going to act in my own defense.Oh, no, no, honey.We always know how this goes. After a brief recess, Harold Leslie addressed the judge, saying, I am no longer in a position with my colleagues to continue the cause, the panel being desirous of conducting the remainder of the trial. So he was like, peace deuces. In other words, he was fired. The judge allowed the change, but he insisted that the other two defense lawyers, Fearnes and Dougherty, needed to remain close by to possibly assist if needed. Okay. But it came very clear I'd be pissed. I was just gonna say no.I'd be like, I just got fired in front of everybody, this guy.Yeah, see ya.See, he can sink his own ship.You can sink your own fucking ship. And Peter didn't want their help. Yeah, he made it clear he fired them. Yeah. And he never used their help. He didn't want it.So it's like, I just have to sit here and watch this.Now, apparently, Peter Manuel had done this before. He had defended himself in court before. Several years earlier, he defended himself in a rape case in Airdrie sheriff court, and he was unsuccessful. He went to prison for that one. That's great. Now, regardless of what happened throughout this whole thing, apparently he had a lot of confidence. He was very charming in court, and he impressed even the most successfully experienced lawyers watching the trial, according to Joe. Joe Beltrami, who was a very prominent scottish lawyer who saw the trial. He said, judge Lord Cameron said he was surprised at the standard and skill of the accused, and so was I. His cross examination was quite skillful and well thought out, which is like nuts. But remember, Peter Manuel is pretty brighten. He was bright in school. He just really just didn't apply himself. But he was very bright.Sounds like Ted Bundy.Yeah. Now, confident or not, the prosecution's case against Manuel was just too strong.Yeah.They had built a considerable amount of.Evidence, like, literally led them to a body.Yeah, it was very compelling. They didn't need to do a whole lot. But Peter Manuel's defense, on the other hand, was, I didn't do it.Okay.Which is. Which is strange when you've confessed voluntarily, verbally and in writing. But when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refuted everything that he'd previously stated or confessed, and he fell back on that old habit of just saying, it's everyone else's fault.Oh, okay.It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Final arguments were given on May 29, and the jury took barely 2 hours before returning. Guilty verdicts on seven counts of murderous, six counts of capital murder for the watten smart families, one count of non capital murder for Isabel Cook. And what kills me is in the case of Ann Nealons. The jury felt the evidence did not make the case, and he was not found guilty.That's shitty.Yeah. Now, when the verdict was read, the courtroom went nuts. And there was like 100 plus reporters in the courtroom too. And they all just ran out of there to go type up their fucking thing for, you know, the next thing. But Judge Lord Cameron wasted no time passing sentence. He said, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to the prison of Bar Liney, Glasgow, therein to be detained until the 19th day of June next. And upon that day, in the said prison of Barlini, Glasgow. And between the hours of eight and 10:00, you suffer death by hanging, which is pronounced for doom.Fuck.Which, like. Which is pronounced for doom. I'm like, damn. You guys know they got that good shit. You have a grasp on that language. Like, it just, you know how to make it like, dun dun dun. After passing the sentence, Lord Cameron just dismissed the jury. Adjourned the adjoin. The adjourned. I was like, adjoined, adjourned, adjourned the court and refused Peter Manuel the opportunity to make a statement. Love was literally like, shut the fuck up. You've talked enough.Yeah.So for several years, the crimes of Peter Manuel captivated the attention of the public across UK. Who wouldn't be right? But once the trial ended and everybody was kind of satisfied, he had been sentenced, he had been found guilty. Everything. He got what he deserved. Attention kind of, like, shifted away. So, like, you know, other stuff was happening. So they just kind of were like, fuck. Peter Manuel. By.Yeah.When the day of his execution arrived on July 11, 1958, the Evening Times reported, quote, as the hands of the prison clock pointed to the execution hour, fewer than a dozen people stood silently outside the prison. There was no demonstration, no protest by opponents of capital punishment. As the final act was carried out under due process of law. At 08:00 a.m. the executioner pulled the lever. Down he went. He was gone. Hanged to death. And the people of Scotland were finally free of the beast of Berkinshaw.Damn.Fuck. Peter.It's the fact that, like, less than twelve people were.Nobody gave a shit anymore. They didn't even need to see him die. They were just like, whatever, deuces. You're gone, you stupid bitch.Oh, what a case, though. He. Yeah, just.Just the fact that it's.There's no reason for murder ever. But his was specifically so senseless and.Yeah.No victim profile. No. Just like, killed to kill.Yeah, it was. His crimes were so fucking senseless and so brutal.Yeah.Like you said, like, the fact that he didn't have a victim profile.So he's really freaky.Like, any. It was like a Richard Ramirez.Yeah.Nobody was safe.Yeah. Like the break.No, he would go after couples, kids, women, men, families. Like, didn't matter who you were, where you were, what was going on. If he could get you, he was gonna get you.And it's like, so scary.That's so scary.Yeah.And that, um. That McLeod source that I was talking about in the first part. And this one is Peter Manuel, serial killer. And it's by Hector McLeod. And we'll link it, obviously, in the sources, but we used it a lot. But, yeah, it's a wild case and one of Scotland's worst serial killers.I mean. Yeah. Yeah, he was a lot.And scottish listeners let me know if I said Ballyeston correctly or Ballyiston. I think. I think you had said Bally Eston. Yeah, I hope I did feel scottish. It felt good.We're thinking of Bailey.No, Bailey. Bailey's from a shoe, so we'll see. But, yeah, horrible, horrible case. Yeah, but he got his in the end. Yeah, yeah.And with that.Yeah, I hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but.Not so weird that you break into people's homes and kill them, because.Whoa. Because what?That's horrible.Yeah.Oh, my gourd. Oh, my God.If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.From Wondery I'm Indravama, and this is the spy who this season, we open the file on Oleg Penkowski, the spy who defused the missile crisis. It's 1960, and the world's on the brink of nuclear war. However, one man in Moscow is about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkowski. As a cold war double agent, Penkovsky wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union's greatest nuclear secrets. But is this man putting his life on the line to save the world? Or is he part of an elaborate trap? Follow the spy who on the wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of the spy who defused the missile crisis early and ad free with wondry Plus.

hope.

And he really is. Like, this shows he'll go to the ends of the earth to be a fucking slimy piece of shit.

And he just enjoys it.

He does. And William Watt on the stand said. He said that Charles Tallis broke into the house. They went in and shot my wife and sister in bed. And then he broke down in tears on the stand.

Yeah.

Now, most damning of all, though, was the confession that Peter had voluntarily given to police. Very volunteer people wrote it down. They were detailed. They had intimate familiarity with the wat home. Like, he was in that house, all these homes. And he was in the other crimes. Same thing. He knew the layouts of the houses. He knew the details that were not reported.

Yeah.

And on the witness stand, Detective Robert McNeil explained the process by which they obtained this confession from me. And that included the statement Manuel made just before he confessed. He said, there is no future for me. Oh, and Manuel was alleged to have said, I have done some terrible things. I killed the girl, Nealon's at East Kilbride, and I shot the three women at the house at Burnside. And following McNeil's testimony, Manuel's confessions were read in full to the jury. They were like, you're. You gave these. We're not taking them out. On May 22, Peter Manuel shocked the court again because he dismissed his entire defense counsel and said, I'm going to act in my own defense.

Oh, no, no, honey.

We always know how this goes. After a brief recess, Harold Leslie addressed the judge, saying, I am no longer in a position with my colleagues to continue the cause, the panel being desirous of conducting the remainder of the trial. So he was like, peace deuces. In other words, he was fired. The judge allowed the change, but he insisted that the other two defense lawyers, Fearnes and Dougherty, needed to remain close by to possibly assist if needed. Okay. But it came very clear I'd be pissed. I was just gonna say no.

I'd be like, I just got fired in front of everybody, this guy.

Yeah, see ya.

See, he can sink his own ship.

You can sink your own fucking ship. And Peter didn't want their help. Yeah, he made it clear he fired them. Yeah. And he never used their help. He didn't want it.

So it's like, I just have to sit here and watch this.

Now, apparently, Peter Manuel had done this before. He had defended himself in court before. Several years earlier, he defended himself in a rape case in Airdrie sheriff court, and he was unsuccessful. He went to prison for that one. That's great. Now, regardless of what happened throughout this whole thing, apparently he had a lot of confidence. He was very charming in court, and he impressed even the most successfully experienced lawyers watching the trial, according to Joe. Joe Beltrami, who was a very prominent scottish lawyer who saw the trial. He said, judge Lord Cameron said he was surprised at the standard and skill of the accused, and so was I. His cross examination was quite skillful and well thought out, which is like nuts. But remember, Peter Manuel is pretty brighten. He was bright in school. He just really just didn't apply himself. But he was very bright.

Sounds like Ted Bundy.

Yeah. Now, confident or not, the prosecution's case against Manuel was just too strong.

Yeah.

They had built a considerable amount of.

Evidence, like, literally led them to a body.

Yeah, it was very compelling. They didn't need to do a whole lot. But Peter Manuel's defense, on the other hand, was, I didn't do it.

Okay.

Which is. Which is strange when you've confessed voluntarily, verbally and in writing. But when he finally took the stand in his own defense, he refuted everything that he'd previously stated or confessed, and he fell back on that old habit of just saying, it's everyone else's fault.

Oh, okay.

It's not my fault. I didn't do it. Final arguments were given on May 29, and the jury took barely 2 hours before returning. Guilty verdicts on seven counts of murderous, six counts of capital murder for the watten smart families, one count of non capital murder for Isabel Cook. And what kills me is in the case of Ann Nealons. The jury felt the evidence did not make the case, and he was not found guilty.

That's shitty.

Yeah. Now, when the verdict was read, the courtroom went nuts. And there was like 100 plus reporters in the courtroom too. And they all just ran out of there to go type up their fucking thing for, you know, the next thing. But Judge Lord Cameron wasted no time passing sentence. He said, the sentence of this court is that you be taken from this place to the prison of Bar Liney, Glasgow, therein to be detained until the 19th day of June next. And upon that day, in the said prison of Barlini, Glasgow. And between the hours of eight and 10:00, you suffer death by hanging, which is pronounced for doom.

Fuck.

Which, like. Which is pronounced for doom. I'm like, damn. You guys know they got that good shit. You have a grasp on that language. Like, it just, you know how to make it like, dun dun dun. After passing the sentence, Lord Cameron just dismissed the jury. Adjourned the adjoin. The adjourned. I was like, adjoined, adjourned, adjourned the court and refused Peter Manuel the opportunity to make a statement. Love was literally like, shut the fuck up. You've talked enough.

Yeah.

So for several years, the crimes of Peter Manuel captivated the attention of the public across UK. Who wouldn't be right? But once the trial ended and everybody was kind of satisfied, he had been sentenced, he had been found guilty. Everything. He got what he deserved. Attention kind of, like, shifted away. So, like, you know, other stuff was happening. So they just kind of were like, fuck. Peter Manuel. By.

Yeah.

When the day of his execution arrived on July 11, 1958, the Evening Times reported, quote, as the hands of the prison clock pointed to the execution hour, fewer than a dozen people stood silently outside the prison. There was no demonstration, no protest by opponents of capital punishment. As the final act was carried out under due process of law. At 08:00 a.m. the executioner pulled the lever. Down he went. He was gone. Hanged to death. And the people of Scotland were finally free of the beast of Berkinshaw.

Damn.

Fuck. Peter.

It's the fact that, like, less than twelve people were.

Nobody gave a shit anymore. They didn't even need to see him die. They were just like, whatever, deuces. You're gone, you stupid bitch.

Oh, what a case, though. He. Yeah, just.

Just the fact that it's.

There's no reason for murder ever. But his was specifically so senseless and.

Yeah.

No victim profile. No. Just like, killed to kill.

Yeah, it was. His crimes were so fucking senseless and so brutal.

Yeah.

Like you said, like, the fact that he didn't have a victim profile.

So he's really freaky.

Like, any. It was like a Richard Ramirez.

Yeah.

Nobody was safe.

Yeah. Like the break.

No, he would go after couples, kids, women, men, families. Like, didn't matter who you were, where you were, what was going on. If he could get you, he was gonna get you.

And it's like, so scary.

That's so scary.

Yeah.

And that, um. That McLeod source that I was talking about in the first part. And this one is Peter Manuel, serial killer. And it's by Hector McLeod. And we'll link it, obviously, in the sources, but we used it a lot. But, yeah, it's a wild case and one of Scotland's worst serial killers.

I mean. Yeah. Yeah, he was a lot.

And scottish listeners let me know if I said Ballyeston correctly or Ballyiston. I think. I think you had said Bally Eston. Yeah, I hope I did feel scottish. It felt good.

We're thinking of Bailey.

No, Bailey. Bailey's from a shoe, so we'll see. But, yeah, horrible, horrible case. Yeah, but he got his in the end. Yeah, yeah.

And with that.

Yeah, I hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but.

Not so weird that you break into people's homes and kill them, because.

Whoa. Because what?

That's horrible.

Yeah.

Oh, my gourd. Oh, my God.

If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com. survey.

From Wondery I'm Indravama, and this is the spy who this season, we open the file on Oleg Penkowski, the spy who defused the missile crisis. It's 1960, and the world's on the brink of nuclear war. However, one man in Moscow is about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkowski. As a cold war double agent, Penkovsky wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union's greatest nuclear secrets. But is this man putting his life on the line to save the world? Or is he part of an elaborate trap? Follow the spy who on the wondery app or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of the spy who defused the missile crisis early and ad free with wondry Plus.