Our dad lost two of his sisters and a niece to Peter Manuel. This should not become some TV drama. This is real life. This is our life
Brothers in plea to drama producers
The relatives of a family murdered by serial killer Peter Manuel have called for a TV drama about his crimes to be scrapped.
Marion Watt, 45, was killed in her home with her daughter Vivienne, 16, and sister Margaret Brown, 41.
Their last surviving relatives, Stuart and David Reid, say their father Robert – Mar ion and Margaret ’ s brother – was haunted by the deaths all his life.
They believe the three-part series starring Martin Compston as the killer will only reopen old wounds.
And they want ITV to reconsider showing the production, titled Muncie after the detective who brought the killer to justice.
Stuart, 72, said: “My brother and I can understand the fascination with Manuel and the detective work done to convict him of the murders.
“But what ITV are forgetting is that they are dealing with real life here, real people’s lives.
“This is upsetting for us, as our father lost two sisters and a niece that day and it affected him deeply.
“He lived for 22 years after the murders and never stopped thinking about what happened.
“I remember him going to Barlinnie on the day Manuel was hanged.
“But he only really spoke about it when he was off guard, if he’d had a couple of drinks.
“I recall a surgeon at Stobhill Hospital saying my father wouldn’ t stop muttering about Manuel when he was under anaesthetic for an operation.”
Robert, a shipyard carpenter, was one of a family of seven.
His sisters and niece were shot at point blank range after Manuel broke into Margaret’s home in Burnside, Glasgow, on September 17, 1956.
Robert, who had seven children with wife Helen, died in 1978. Stuart and retired plumber David are his only surviving children. Stuart said: “All this series will do is open up old wounds. The house where the murders took place, in Fennsbank Avenue, is no longer there.
“All we have are the good memories of the times we had when we visited my Auntie Marion and cousin Vivienne. We’d rather keep it that way.
“We want ITV to stop and think. There is no need to show this series of events on television. We feel we have to appeal to them in memory of our dad and of the other families of the victims who died.”
Last night, a spokesman for programme makers World Productions, who are filming in Uddingston, near Manuel’s old home, said they would offer to meet the brothers.
He added: “Muncie tells the true story of Detective William Muncie’s pursuit of Peter Manuel. It will not linger on Manuel’s terrible crimes, but will focus on the story
of one man’s extraordinary efforts to bring a monster to justice.
“We tried to trace and contact surviving relatives of Manuel’s victims prior to filming, but in this case were unable to do so.”
The three- part mini series also stars Douglas Henshall as Muncie and Gary Lewis as Marion’s husband William Watt.
Stuart, a retired joiner, was just 12 when two police officers arrived at the fami ly home in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, to break the news of the murders.
He said: “No one had a phone in those days and there were very few cars. I knew right away they were detectives.
“I still have a picture in my mind of the old Jaguar car they were driving with ‘ Police’ across the front of it.”
Watt was originally charged with the killings but was released two months later because of lack of evidence.
He had been away on a fishing trip on the night in question.
Stuart said: “My father always maintained Watt had something to do with the murders but we will never know. Marion was an invalid and she had a black labrador dog which was her constant companion.
“Watt took the dog on the fishing trip when he had never once done that before.
“My father believed that the three women would have survived had the dog been there to defend them.”
Manuel, Scotland’s first convicted serial killer, was hanged on July 11, 1958, after being convicted of seven murders.
But he was suspected of being involved in many more.
All we have are the good memories of visiting Auntie Marion and cousin Vivienne