Robert Jeffrey

Robert Jeffrey, author of the bestselling Barlinnie Story and other true crime books, now tells the remarkable story of the infamous Peterhead Prison in Scotland's far north-east. Built in the 1880s as part of an ambitious humanitarian plan to use convict labour to construct a 'harbour of refuge' on the town's wild, storm-battered coast, it became what some call Scotland's gulag. A cold and brutal place, it has held down the years some of Scotland's most violent criminals and most infamous prisoners, convicted of the most heinous of crimes. In the early days, convicts were controlled by men as hard as their charges. The wardens carried swords and were quick to use them if necessary. And when convict labour was used to build the harbour, they worked with rifles trained on them at all times. Peterhead's wardens were clearly not to be crossed. Throughout the history of the prison, riots and breakouts have made headlines, with the SAS involved in restoring order at one point. Peterhead also had the reputation of being so secure that escape was impossible, with the notable exception of Johnny Ramensky, the safeblower turned war hero who went back to his criminal ways and spent more than forty years of his life in prison, many of them in Peterhead. He became the first inmate to escape and repeated the exercise four more times, often for his own satisfaction and amusement, each time being recaptured after a short taste of freedom.

Inside Scotland's Toughest Prison

Peterhead

Glasgow is an energetic and powerful city of many moods and faces. For more than 100 years, the city has been known, worldwide, for gangsterism, violence and villainy. But the criminals - many of them the product of slum areas with some of the worst poverty and deprivation in Europe - never had it easy as there were always a full cast of Glaswegian citizens ready to fight for good against the powers of darkness. Glasgow's long-running fight against crime is an enthralling story, peopled with a range of fascinating characters: a series of high-profile Chief Constables; cops on the beat, as hard as the men they faced; gang-busting judges and sheriffs; concerned men and women, trying to live a normal life. The gangs and the godfathers, the shadow of Barlinnie (the infamous Bar-L), Peter Manuel, Bible John, the Thompsons...these are the big stories of crime fighting in Glasgow, Scotland's second city, recorded day after day in the pages of The Herald, The Evening Times and The Sunday Herald. And after years of struggle, the battle was won with a remarkable turn around in the city's reputation, a change of face that helped win Glasgow the accolade, 'City of Culture'.Glasgow's Hard Men contains a host of gripping stories culled from the comprehensive archives of The Herald, The Evening Times and The Sunday Herald, fully illustrated with images from one of Europe's largest contemporary news picture collections.

True Crime from the Files of the Herald, Evening Times and Sunday Herald

Glasgow's Hard Men

Sharp-suited gang members hiding swords down the panelling of trendy Italian scooters Police wearing specially designed leather neckbands to deflect knife attacks Mounted police wielding sabres For more than 100 years Glasgow was known worldwide for its gangsters and villains. This book traces the history of the city's gangland violence from the bloody turf wars, extortion and religious battles to the rise in drug dealing today. A powerful read.

True Crime from the Streets

Gangland Glasgow

Throughout an astonishing criminal career, Johnny Ramensky was the foremost safe-blower of his era. His exploits and audacious escapes from maximum security prisons also helped make him a household name - admired by some, notorious to others. But when the Second World War broke out, Ramensky joined the elite Commandos and his story became legend. Peacetime had brought Johnny Ramensky a hard upbringing in the Gorbals, a life of crime and long years in jail. War brought him the chance to serve his country and a new use for his expertise in explosives. Time after time he would show exceptional bravery as he was parachuted behind enemy lines to blow open the safes of Rommel, Goering and the German High Command. His mission was to secure documents vital to the war effort and it brought him the danger and excitement he had always craved. Gentle Johnny Ramensky is the remarkable story of a boy reared in poverty who became one of the world's most extraordinary safe-blowers both as a criminal and as a war hero who wore the Green Beret with pride.

The Extraordinary True Story of the Safe Blower Who Became a War Hero

Gentle Johnny Ramensky

Riots, death, retribution and redemption in Scotland's infamous prison. Barlinnie is one of the most notorious prisons in the world and for more than a hundred years it has held Glasgow's toughest and most violent men, swept up from the city streets. Ten men died on its gallows in the infamous Hanging Shed, including serial killer Peter Manuel. It has sparked rooftop protests and cell-block riots, and been home to godfathers of crime like Arthur Thompson Snr and Walter Norval. Barlinnie was also the scene of one of the most controversial experiments in penal history, the Special Unit, wherethe likes of Jimmy Boyle and Hugh Collins were at the centre of a fierce battle between those who see prison as retribution and those who regard it as a step on the road to redemption, even for the most evil killers. Paul Ferris, TC Campbell and gangleaders galore havelanguished behind its grim walls and, more than a hundred years on, Barlinnie still makes headlines. This is its fascinating, turbulent story.

The Barlinnie Story

High cliffs jutting out into the Atlantic and the North Sea, many hundreds of rocky skerries, deep sea lochs, dangerous unseen reefs, powerful tides and gales that batter the land fiercely from all points of the compass . . . Scotland has a coastline of immense beauty and danger, and its cruel sea has claimed many lives down the years. Disaster at sea is a poignant part of Scotland's history, and in this chilling and awe-inspiring book, bestselling author Robert Jeffrey tells the compelling stories of the victims of the ocean deeps. Car ferries, fishing boats, troopers, pleasure yachts and Navy vessels of all sorts, including submarines, have gone to the bottom. And in brave attempts to save those in danger with lifeboats, many have died. Including the famous tales of the Princess Victoria, the ill-fated K13 submarines, the Longhope lifeboat and the Iolanthe, Scotland's Cruel Sea remembers the maritime tragedies that made headlines and became part of the folk memory of a seagoing nation.

Heroism and Disaster off the Scottish Coast

Scotland's Cruel Sea

In the twenty-first century, Glasgow is still a city living down a fearsome reputation for crime. And for some citizens of the Dear Green Place, brawling is in the blood and gang warfare is a way of life. The stinking deprivation of the Gorbals and the East End, deprivation that helped spawn pre-war gangs like the Billy Boys, the Norman Conks and the Redskins, is largely gone, but in each era new gangs have risen to take their place. Battles over turf and control of the drugs trade still regularly make the headlines. Now newly updated, Gangs of Glasgow takes an in-depth look at the gripping evolution of the city's gangs from the days of the Penny Mob, through the extortion, slashings and street fighting of the Thirties to the smart-suited men of violence of the modern day.

True Crime From the Streets

Gangs of Glasgow

Donald Findlay QC

Jack House

Four of Britain's most notorious murders took place within a square mile of Glasgow's city centre around the turn of the last century. Madeleine Smith was accused and found 'Not Proven' of lacing her doomed lover's late night cocoa with arsenic; an 83-year-old woman was brutally battered to death; Oscar Slater, an innocent man, was jailed and Jessie McPherson was brutally struck 40 times with a meat cleaver. Equally chilling are the crimes of Dr Edward William Pritchard, 'The Human Crocodile', who had the coffin lid unscrewed so that he could kiss the lips of the wife he had murdered by slow poisoning. Jack House unravels the fascinating details of the police investigations to provide an insight into these four famous cases. This new illustrated edition also contains a touching profile of Jack House by Robert Jeffrey, Glasgow's true crime expert who brings the Madeleine Smith case up to date and an Introduction by Donald R. Findlay QC, one of Scotland's most celebrated advocates.

Horrific Glasgow Killings

Square Mile of Murder

Walter Norval was a man marked by destiny to be a career criminal in one of Britain's hardest cities. As a boy he grew up in a world of illegal betting, violent canal bank pitch-and-toss schools, sleazy dance halls, brothels and bars where the denizens of the slums in the north side of Glasgow slaked gargantuan thirsts and plotted murder and mayhem. Before he had reached his teens, close relatives had died as blood was spilled in the streets. As a youngster he ran 'messages' for the toughest gangsters in the city and stood guard over the pots of cash in illegal gambling schools. It was a remarkable apprenticeship, dangerous and sometimes deadly. It honed a latent toughness and a talent for lawbreaking that saw him emerge in the Seventies as the first of a succession of Glasgow godfathers. Dressed in pinstriped style, he controlled his foot soldiers with fearsome fists and planned robberies with the attention to detail of a military general. He organised various Glasgow fighting factions into a single gang, which pulled off a spectacular series of robberies. But, unlike his successors, he abhorred drugs and drug-dealing. And, in a remarkable twist, he joined the anti-drugs war in later life. His story - told by the best-selling crime historian Robert Jeffrey - provides a fascinating insight into the making of a criminal mastermind, from boy to man.

Robert Jeffrey

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