A city’s darkest stories do not just happen in closes and back rooms, they end up in court. We take you to Glasgow’s High Court of Justiciary on the Saltmarket, the neoclassical landmark with the vast Doric Portico that has watched two centuries of Scottish criminal justice unfold. Built from early nineteenth century plans to replace an unfit jail and later rebuilt behind its original façade, it stands as a public promise: even the worst accusation must be tested in front of a jury.

From there, we follow the cases that made the building infamous. We revisit Peter Manuel, the “Beast of Birkinshaw”, and the 1958 trial that gripped Scotland, right down to his decision to sack his lawyers and question witnesses himself. We then track the court’s role in the Ice Cream Wars case and the bitter legacy of a conviction quashed as a miscarriage of justice, before stepping into the sprawling 1992 Paul Ferris trial where underworld names, supergrass testimony, and heavyweight advocacy fill the courtroom.

The story also turns to what makes Scots law distinctive, including the “not proven” verdict and why it still fuels public anger and debate, highlighted through the unresolved Amanda Duffy case. We bring the timeline forward through Tommy Sheridan’s perjury conviction, the parcel bomb trial linked to Celtic FC figures, and the 2024 Emma Caldwell murder conviction of Ian Packer, followed by a judge led public inquiry into how the original investigation was handled.

If you care about true crime in Glasgow, Scottish law, miscarriages of justice, or how one building can shape a city’s memory, this is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review then tell us: which High Court case do you think best captures Glasgow’s hard relationship with justice?