IN December 1999 police divers made a grim discovery during a routine exercise in the bitterly cold waters of Loch Lomond.
They spotted submerged bin bags which weren’t filled with rubbish – instead they contained human limbs.
The unexpected discovery of human remains in a stretch of water which is 22 miles long and four miles wide was described as a “chance in a million”.
But just eight days later, another bag – containing a severed head – was found by a dog walker washed up 60 miles away on Barassie Beach, Ayrshire.
Now a BBC documentary tells the inside story of the investigation into a crime which shocked Britain .
At first it was thought it must be a gangland murder, so gruesome was the find.
But the victim was named as a young Kilmarnock man, Barry Wallace, who was last seen on a work night out in his hometown but hadn’t returned home.
A huge police operation was launched to find 18-year-old Barry’s murderer – and it revealed that he wasn’t the killer’s first victim.
In fact William Beggs had been finding victims to attack with razors for years – and had already been convicted of murder once before.
The man who led the investigation, former Detective Superintendent John Geates, told the BBC: “The murder of Barry Wallace was the most shocking thing I had ever been involved in.”
It didn’t take long for detectives to make William Beggs their prime suspect for the appalling murder.
Northern Irish man Beggs had worked in a call centre and at a university. But his criminal record check revealed a shocking past.
He had already served time for a murder on Teeside in 1987, where an attempt had been made to remove the limbs of his victim, Barry Oldham.
But Beggs was freed on a legal technicality after two years and moved to Kilmarnock.
Geates says: “Dismemberment is a very unique crime, very unique. The timescale of Barry going missing and the first body part being found in Loch Lomond was short.
“Therefore something had to have happened probably in Kilmarnock and most likely in his flat.”
The documentary tells how Beggs spotted a drunk Barry walking home after his festive night out and offered him a lift. But the teenager never returned home.
Beggs, then 36, is believed to have killed Barry at his flat and dismembered his body before dumping his head in the sea.
But by the time the Ayrshire police team arrived with a search warrant at Beggs’ home – 11 days after Barry’s remains were found – the killer had fled.
House of horrors
Officers discovered an appalling scene inside the house. Blood at the scene was quickly identified as Barry’s.
Detective Stuart Ferguson says: “You can’t dismember somebody and not leave significant traces.”
Police took the unusual step of releasing Beggs’ image to the media as they desperately sought to trace him.
As the manhunt progressed, detectives decided to look into his teenage years in a rural, very religious community in Northern Ireland to build up a picture of their prime suspect.
Former NI police officer Patrick Greg says Beggs was going through an internal struggle about his sexuality.
“Outwardly his attitude to homosexuality was that he found it repugnant, and he was putting everything in the path of actually accepting his own sexuality,” he explains.
“So he was going to the extreme as such to push it to the side. It is as if he was protesting too much. He wanted people to believe he was anti-gay.”
Beggs even immersed himself in the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign aimed at preventing the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
An allegation emerged that teenage Beggs had attacked a fellow pupil with a razor blade on a Duke of Edinburgh Award camping trip.
Patrick Greg says: “Beggs had issues with blades, with cutting people, with that type of fantasy but putting it into reality.”
Criminologist Dr Mark Pettigrew says: “Not everyone who is closeted goes on to commit offences, or even a tiny minority do. It really is the very small few who will go on to commit offences that are linked to their sexuality and the repression of their sexuality.
“In some instances the weight of stigma and the illegality of their sexuality can perverse their normal sexual development.”
Gay rights activist Jeffrey Dudgeon says: “I don’t think the fact that he was religious was important, or that he was gay. He was just a killer.”
At the age of 19 Beggs had left Northern Ireland for the North East of England to study at Teeside Polytechnic.
He moved into a shared student house in Middlesbrough and joined the Young Conservatives.
But he was secretly frequenting Newcastle’s vibrant gay scene and met a young man called Barry Oldham in the city’s biggest gay club Rockshots.
Dismemberment is a very unique crime, very unique
Former Detective Superintendent John Geates
Barry’s body was found the next day in North Yorkshire woodland, and it appeared that the killer had made attempts to dismember him.
Police focused their attention on the Rockshots club and a picture began to emerge of an Irishman who was picking up young men, sleeping with them and when they were asleep they would be woken up by the Irishman cutting them with a razor blade.
Beggs was quickly identified and questioned, but denied knowing Barry Oldham.
But when police searched his flat they found blood matching that of Barry’s. And Beggs had disappeared.
Police tracked him down to his family home in Northern Ireland where he was arrested and later charged with murder.
Sick lies
Beggs claimed he and Barry Oldham had gone camping together and Oldham had sexually assaulted him so he used a razor blade to defend himself.
But the prosecution alleged that he had in fact murdered Barry Oldham in his flat.
He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison and was also sentenced to four months for the assaults.
But Beggs appealed against his conviction on the grounds that ‘bad character evidence’ should never have been shown to the jury. The appeal judge accepted this and Beggs was acquitted.
So that meant that Beggs served less than two years of his sentence and was back on the streets – and free to attack and kill again.
Patrick Greg says: “Beggs wasn’t done. It wasn’t a case of if, but when.”
He moved to Kilmarnock and it didn’t take long for him to come to police attention again.
He frequented the Glasgow gay club Bennetts where he met Brian McQuillan and they went back to Beggs’ house.
Brush with death
In 2001, Brian McQuillan told the BBC of his horrific encounter with Beggs.
“At first when we went back everything seemed normal,” he said. “His house was relatively clean, it was immaculately tidy. He seemed quite charming and very well-spoken, obviously highly intelligent, he seemed to be very courteous as well.
“He went to the kitchen to fix us both a drink. He brought me the drink through, I was told it was Grolsch, and not being much of a drinker especially not of Grolsch I didn’t know what the taste was, but I can remember it wasn’t very pleasant.
“The last thing I remember is me putting my arm around the side of him and that was it. I was off.
“Then I woke. I was on my back. My left leg was suspended in the air and he was down in between my legs. The pain that I felt was something that I’d never experienced before.
We had to make a compelling case that somehow tied him to the murder of Barry Wallace and get a warrant to search his house
Det Supt Geates
“At first I thought he was biting me. And I will never forget the look in his face as he looked up with this determined look as he obviously continued to cut. There was blood everywhere, he was covered in it, I was covered in it, everywhere you looked it was there.
“I jumped from the bed and ran to the bedroom door and immediately he was behind me. He was a completely different person from who I had met earlier.
“His eyes were vacant, there was nothing there. All he kept saying to me was come back to bed, things will be over soon, you’ve made me do this.”
“At that point I just knew there was no way I was leaving there alive. For the first time in my life I really thought that was it.”
Staring death in the face Brian McQuillan jumped through a glass pane window to escape Beggs’ clutches.
A neighbour found him and called the police. Beggs was jailed for six years for the attack on Brian, but served only three before being released once again. He was on the streets and free to kill once more.
And that came to tragic fruition in 1999 when Scottish teenager Barry Wallace’s remains were found. Police were on the hunt for dangerous killer Beggs once again.
He had travelled to London, got a flight to Jersey and then travelled to France.
I don’t think the fact that he was religious was important, or that he was gay. He was just a killer
Jeffrey Dudgeon
Scottish cops were even liaising with Interpol to find their man, but always found themselves a couple of days behind him.
But then came a breakthrough – Beggs handed himself into a police station in Amsterdam. Police believe he chose Holland as it is one of the most difficult places to be extradited from and therefore he would escape justice.
But he was eventually extradited back to Scotland to face trial.
When police searched Beggs’ flat they not only found traces of Barry Wallace’s blood, but also blood from other unknown men, leading detectives to believe there could be other victims.
During the investigation they also uncovered a series of attacks on young men in youth hostels where Beggs was staying.
Beggs was found guilty of Barry Wallace’s murder and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Brazen Beggs has since lodged appeals against his conviction – and launched a number of legal cases against the prison service and others.
His many actions raised in the Scottish courts are believed to have cost more than £1 million in legal aid.
Limbs in the Loch: Catching a Killer is on BBC2 at 10pm tonight and is on iPlayer now.
Who are the UK's worst serial killers?
THE UK's most prolific serial killer was actually a doctor.
Here’s a rundown of the worst offenders in the UK.
- British GP Harold Shipman is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. He was found guilty of murdering 15 patients in 2000, but the Shipman Inquiry examined his crimes and identified 218 victims, 80 per cent of whom were elderly women.
- After his death Jonathan Balls was accused of poisoning at least 22 people between 1824 and 1845.
- Mary Ann Cotton is suspected of murdering up to 21 people, including husbands, lovers and children. She is Britain’s most prolific female serial killer . Her crimes were committed between 1852 and 1872, and she was hanged in March 1873.
- Amelia Sach and Annie Walters became known as the Finchley Baby Farmers after killing at least 20 babies between 1900 and 1902. The pair became the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison on February 3, 1903.
- William Burke and William Hare killed 16 people and sold their bodies .
- Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was found guilty in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven others between 1975 and 1980.
- Dennis Nilsen was caged for life in 1983 after murdering up to 15 men when he picked them up from the streets. He was found guilty of six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in jail.
- Fred West was found guilty of killing 12 but it’s believed he was responsible for many more deaths .
