The ten hangings of Barlinnie and the stories that lay behind them

At 8am, a hood would be placed on the condemned man's head and a noose around his neck, and seconds later the executioner would pull the trapdoor release. By 8.02, it was over.

A notice would then be placed on the gates of the prison to inform the public. 

John Lyon, 21, was the first to die in Barlinnie on February 8, 1946, for a gang related killing, while 39-year-old Patrick Carraher, was hanged four weeks later after being found guilty of brutally murdering a young soldier.

READ MORE: The Barlinnie story: From beacon of reform to notorious superjail

Known as the Fiend of the Gorbals and a notorious city hardman Carraher had previously cheated the hangman after he was cleared of a similar murder in 1934

That same year a James Caldwell was hanged for the murder of a retired police officer James Straiton after he had foiled a break in to a neighbours house.

Another case which shocked the public was in 1950 when a police officer Constable James Robertson was hanged for the murder of his mistress.

Married Robertson had run over the woman in his car, left her for dead then tried to cover up the crime.

He became the only serving police officer in Scotland to be executed for a crime committed on duty. The married officer battered single mum Catherine McCluskey and repeatedly ran over her body in an attempt to make it look like she'd been the victim of a hit and run.  He had been having an affair with his victim, whose body was found in the middle of Prospecthill Road in Glasgow's Govanhill in July 1950.

Another four men Paul Harris, James Smith, Patrick Deveney and George Shaw were sent to their deaths between 1950 and 1953. Harris stabbed Martin Dunleavy, 38, to death at Neptune Street, in Govan, Glasgow in July, 1950. 

Smith stabbed Martin Malone, 34, at the Ancient Order of Hibernians' Hall in Glasgow on November, 1951.

Deveney, 42, battered and stabbed his wife Jeannie, 37, to death at their home in Kinning Park, Glasgow in February, 1952. 

Shaw 25, battered Michael Connolly, 78, to death at Huntlygate Farm between Lanark and Carstairs in August, 1952.

The final two hangings followed two of the most sensational trials seen in Scotland - both for different reasons.

READ MORE: Glasgow's forgotten prisons and why Barlinnie was built

Peter Manuel was executed on July 11, 1958, the second last person to be hanged there.

Manuel was said to be responsible for as many as nine murders between 1956 and 1958, which left people of all ages, particularly young women, in fear of their lives.

At his trial at the High Court in Glasgow in May 1958, he was convicted of seven killings – the Watt family, in Burnside near Glasgow; the Smart family, in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, and Mount Vernon teenager Isabelle Cooke.

After a last supper of fish, chips, tomatoes and tea, Manuel, then 31, swigged brandy and stepped up to the noose. 

Turning to the hangman, he was said to have quipped: 'Turn up the radio and I'll go quietly.' 

The last man hanged at Barlinnie was 19-year-old first offender Anthony Miller, who died on December 22, 1960 for killing a gay man in a robbery, despite a 30,000-name petition appealing for clemency.

On the day off his execution two grim-faced prison officers entered the sparsely furnished cell where he had spent his last night.

Prison officers post a death notice, confirming the execution of Patrick Carraher at Barlinnie Prison in 1946 (Image: The Herald)

They led the terrified teenager to a room next door where leather straps were quickly tied to his body.

There Britains' then Chief Executioner Harry Allen covered Miller's head with a black cloth bag and placed a noose around his neck.

A trapdoor beneath his feet was opened with a lever and the youth fell to his death.

Tony Miller's last plaintive words to Yorkshireman Allen were reputedly - 'Please, mister!' - before he was left dangling at the end of a rope.

Outside the prison at the time were some police officers, a handful of pressmen waiting for the official announcement and some curious passers by.

A month earlier, in November 1960, Miller had been convicted of the murder of a gay man in Queens Park in the city's south side.

His lawyer Len Murray had only practiced for three years but Miller was already his second capital murder client.

Mr Murray retired in 2003 after a glittering career as a criminal lawyer spanning six decades.

In an interview before his death last year he said: "The Miller case took up four months of my life from the day I received a phone call from his father asking me to represent his son.

"Emotionally Tony Miller's case taxed me more than any other in a 50-year legal career.

"I never took a capital murder case after that."

Miller's execution three days before Christmas marked the beginning of the end for capital punishment.

A crowd forms outside Barlinnie Prison, awaiting confirmation of the execution of the 'Fiend of the Gorbals' Patrick Carraher (Image: The Herald)

The last execution in Scotland took place in Aberdeen in 1962 and the last in the UK in 1965 before it was eventually abolished four years later.

The famous executioners of the time, Thomas Pierrepoint and son Albert travelled from England to carry out eight. The last two - Peter Manuel and Anthony Miller - were hanged by Harry Allan.

As was the custom, the remains of all executed prisoners became the property of the state, and were therefore buried in unmarked graves within the walls of the prison.  

Family and friends were unable ever to visit the plots or pay their respects.

In 1997 the old execution chamber in D Hall was dismantled as part of renovation work.

The remains of all the executed prisoners were exhumed for the first time then reburied elsewhere on the grounds. 

They will be exhumed and reinterred for a second time before the jail is finally demolished.

Frank McKue served as a death watch officer, whose role was to sit with the condemned prisoner at all times. 

They would share cups of tea, play games of draughts and talk about everything apart from the upcoming execution.

A lifelong advocate of capital punishment, Mr McKue, who died in 2008, once said: "To sit with a guy who is going to be hanged in the morning is quite an experience. 

"You're saying cheerio to someone who you know won't ever be coming back. That sort of thing didn't bother me, though - I never lost any sleep over it.”