Thomas McCulloch was declared criminally insane when he concocted the escape from Carstairs State Hospital resulting in the death of three people and a manhunt.

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Peterhead Prison is one of the best attractions in the country and the historic building holds many stories.

However, there is always one which leaves tourists in stunned silence. As you walk into solitary confinement the tour tells of a prisoner who sat alone in the room for 22 years, only ever conversing with staff.

A sign now hangs outside the cell stating that visitors should not ask about more information.

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When asking former prison officers who worked on the complex they refuse to talk about the man who called the place home, Thomas McCulloch.

His story begins at the Erskine Bridge Hotel in Renfrewshire in 1970.

The man sat enjoying a sandwich and a drink but something was off. As McCulloch went to butter his roll he snapped, shooting the chef in the face and the manageress in the shoulder.

His reasoning was that he hadn't been given enough butter for his dry bread roll. The victims of the shooting lived but McCulloch was declared insane and sent to Carstairs.

It was here where he met Robert Mone.

In 1967 Mone held a teacher and her pupils hostage in a Dundee school, eventually firing his shotgun and killing 26-year-old Nanette Hanson.

The pair immediately hit it off, with rumours suggesting that they may have been lovers. As they sat in the hospital, nicknamed 'Colditz', McCulloch spent six months concocting a plan to escape.

The patient was well liked by staff as he proved to be a hard worker in the paint workshop, but little did they know what was swirling through the man's head.

Both McCulloch and Mone had stashed away axes, knives, fake IDs, uniforms, nurses hats and garrottes.

In November 1976 the pair decided it was time to escape.

They attacked nursing officer Neil MacLellan but they were interrupted by patient Ian Simpson who attempted to save the nurse. The escapees launched paint stripper in the face of their victims.

The shock allowed the murderous duo to hack Neil and Ian to death. McCulloch's rage was overbearing as he continued to slash the nurse well after he was incapacitated.

Mone speared their fellow patient with a pitchfork.

Before rushing out of the hospital, McCulloch cut off Ian's ear as a memento. There months of preparation paid off as the rope ladder they made allowed the pair to climb the razor-wire high wall.

The next step involved Mone feigning an injury on the road to flag down a passer-by, they planned on killing the driver and stealing the car.

However, there was an unexpected twist, a police car turned up. PC John Gillies and PC George Taylor were unaware of the escape and pulled over.

As they got out McCulloch and Mone pounced on them with axes and cleavers.

They sped away in the police car leaving Taylor for dead and Gilles in a critical condition.

McCulloch hadn't driven in the best part of a decade and in the icy Lanarkshire conditions he lost control of the car and crashed. A van pulled up to help and the duo pretended to be a policeman and a prisoner being transported.

As the good Samaritans got closer they were knocked on the head and stabbed repeatedly. The injured pair were bundled into the van and McCulloch took to the wheel again.

The alarm had still not been raised at Carstairs but the escapees didn't know that. Lights in the distance scared McCulloch into thinking there was a road block.

He swerved the stolen van into a boggy field where it eventually became stuck.

Mone and McCulloch rushed on foot towards a farmhouse and terrorised the family living there before stealing their car. It was at this point both police in Scotland and the north of England were alerted.

After three hours the pair were rammed off the A74 just north of Carlisle by a chasing police car. They tried to hack and slash their way out but they were eventually apprehended.

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At Edinburgh High Court, Mone pled guilty to killing the policeman, McCulloch to the nurse and patient. They were ordered to be imprisoned for the rest of their lives.

McCulloch was labelled "an incurable psychopath" by Lord Dunpark in the High Court in 1976.

He was locked up in Peterhead Prison for 22 years following the spree, which resulted in the death of three people. Only the most experienced officers were allowed to watch over the vicious murderer.

Many of the stuffed toys he crafted whilst locked away are still on display.

The killer was eventually moved to Castle Huntly and released in 2013 through fixed-term punishments set down by European human rights laws.

He has since visited his old cell in the north-east on a number of occasions with his girlfriend, even donating a newspaper he used to read to the exhibit. It can be spotted on his old bunk to this day.

McCulloch is now believed to be staying in a Dundee flat with his partner

As for Robert Mone, he remains in prison for the vicious murders.

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