Glasgow Crime Stories: The escaped Carstairs patients who went on a killing spree

What they had been told chilled their blood and made them realise they may have only one choice, kill or be killed.

The nature of violent crime in the city at the time gave the four detectives the experience of handling major incidents.

As a result, they had been sent 30 miles south to Carstairs in Lanarkshire to assist local colleagues.

That cold November night in 1976, two patients, Robert Mone, 27, and Thomas McCulloch, 26, broke out of the State Hospital there.

They had murdered two patients and a local police officer in the most brutal of circumstances.

The armed officers knew that they would have little option to shoot both men if they tried to kill again. 

What they learned about the two men added to their sense of fear and apprehension.

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Mone had been convicted of murdering pregnant teacher Nan Hanson, 26, in 1967 with a shotgun in her classroom at St John's RC High School, Dundee, and sexually assaulting a female pupil.

He was also declared severely schizophrenic and sent to Carstairs - then nicknamed "Colditz". 

McCulloch had been in Carstairs for a similar period of time.

He was incarcerated after an incident at the Erskine Bridge Hotel in Renfrewshire in 1970 in which he complained that he hadn't been given enough butter for his roll. 

He shot the chef in the face and the manageress in the shoulder before being arrested by police.

The two men formed a close bond when they met in Carstairs and were even said to be lovers. 

McCulloch was the brains behind the escape operation.

Over a period of six months the two men managed to create a secret stash of axes, knives, fake identification and uniforms.

One the evening of November 30 they decided it was time to go.

They pounced first on nursing officer Neil McLellan, 46, and patient Ian Simpson, 40.

Paint stripper was thrown in their faces to disable them.

But both men fought for their lives as they were being hacked to death with knives and axes.

McCulloch repeatedly attacked Mr McLellan long after his victim was immobilised, while Mr Simpson was speared with a pitchfork by Mone. 

McCulloch also sliced off Simpson's ears and put them in his pocket.

The duo had also made their own rope ladder and within minutes they had scaled the razor-wire high wall that surrounded the hospital. 

Once free, Mone lay down on the road pretending to be hurt so they could flag down the first car that passed. 

They planned to kill the driver and take the car.

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At the time of his murder, constable George Taylor lived in Carstairs Junction, next to Carstairs village, in a police house attached to the station office.

He had just begun his shift at 6pm unaware that Mone and McCulloch had broken out about 40 minutes earlier and committed a double murder.

At about 6.40pm, PC Taylor and colleague PC John Gillies spotted two men standing on Carnwath Road on the outskirts of Carstairs, near to a car, and stopped to see if they could help. 

Both Mone and McCulloch launched a savage attack on the two officers with the same weapons they had used on their two previous victims.

Constable Gillies managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby house. PC Taylor, who was in a very serious condition and bleeding heavily, managed to stop a passing bus, which drove him to the local doctor in Carstairs. 

From there, he was rushed to nearby Law Hospital but died a short time later.

The two escapees stole the police van, which they crashed 10 miles away near Biggar.

They tried to murder two men who stopped to help, stealing their works van and leaving the men for dead at the side of the road.

The vehicle was abandoned a few miles away.

They then walked to a nearby farm, where they threatened a family, before stealing their vehicle.

After three hours of bloody carnage, Mone and McCulloch were eventually captured when a police car rammed theirs on the A74 north of Carlisle.

Former detective superintendent Joe Jackson was one of four armed police sent from Glasgow to recapture Mone and McCulloch.

Both men were taken back to Scotland by car, with Mone next to Jackson in the back seat.

In an interview in 2007, he recalled: "Had the situation occurred, we would have opened fire.

"Mone showed no remorse and took great delight in telling us what he had done that evening. He made my blood turn cold." 

The detectives were members of the Strathclyde Police Serious Crime Squad, which at the time included a young detective Graeme Pearson, who later became head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Jackson added: "In most murders the culprits show regret. But there was none from Mone.

"He is the classic psychopath, and one mustn't forget he killed those people.

"On the drive back he boasted how he and McCulloch had made the weapons they used to kill their victims in the workshops at Carstairs, also saying they had forged passports and a stash of gold krugerrands.

"He was totally happy with what had happened that night apart from the fact he had been caught.

"It was like someone describing a day at work." 

Mr Jackson also recalled their efforts to track down and arrest the killers.

He said: "At one point the chief constable, David McNee, came on the air telling us to be very careful when we caught up with the men as they were known to be in possession of weapons and had 'already proved' (meaning they had already killed three that night).

"There was no way my colleagues and I were going to be additional victims. We had made up our minds about that.

"The police at Carlisle spotted their car and ran it off the road.

"Mone and McCulloch were not seriously hurt and were arrested at the scene and taken to Carlisle Police Office. We arrived minutes afterwards.

"Both were taken to Lanark Police Office where they were charged.”

Mone and McCulloch pleaded guilty to the three murders at the High Court in Glasgow in 1977 and were sentenced by Lord Dunpark to the first "whole life" terms ever handed down in Scotland.

In May 2013, 65-year-old McCulloch was freed from prison having successfully applied for parole and is now believed to be living in Dundee.

Mone, 73, is still in jail and is one of Scotland's longest-serving prisoners.

Last year the family of Mr Taylor launched a campaign for a posthumous bravery medal on the 45th anniversary of his death.

They believe he is entitled to a variety of honours, including the George Medal, Queen's Commendation for Bravery and Queen's Gallantry Medal.

Their case was taken up by George Barnsley, of the Lanarkshire Police Historical Society, and local MSP Graham Simpson. However, they were told that such awards could not be made after five years had expired.

The only recognition of his bravery to date is a plaque inside Hamilton Police Office, which was paid for out of the pockets of local police officers.

The Taylors have received backing for their campaign from the current chief constable, Iain Livingstone, who has decided to give Mr Taylor the Chief Constable's Bravery Commendation.

The hero cop had four children - David, Stephen, Paul and Michelle. Paul, 50, followed in his father's footsteps and joined the police.

Mr Taylor is also remembered on a granite memorial in the gardens of the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan alongside 290 police officers who have died on duty over the years.

Last year, Mr Pearson recalled his own role in taking Mone back to justice.

After leaving the police he became a Labour MSP for South Scotland and is now retired.

Mone told him they had carried out the killings so they would be sent to a normal prison and thus have a chance of parole and release at some point in the future.

Both he and McCulloch knew that had they remained in Carstairs they might never have got out.

Mr Pearson added: "I think he understood what he had done.

"I got the impression that rather than being two people engaged in a single incident their time at Carstairs had made them almost one person.

"McCulloch being the strong able-bodied one and Mone being less impressive physically but mentally really strong and controlling.

"Power was important to them as it is to others who engage in terrible violence."