SAWNEY BEAN

(Late 13th and early 14th century cannibal)

Good old Sawney was doing a Hannibal Lecter long before the Americans invented serial killers.

Sawney and his savage family of around 45 members settled in a secluded cave near Ballantrae in Ayrshire where they lived by robbing and murdering passing travellers, and then eating the corpses.

Their existence only came to light when one of their "fresh" victims managed to escape and reported to the authorities the gruesome horrors he had witnessed inside the cave.

A posse, led by King James I himself, rode out to capture Sawney Bean and his carnivorous clan. What they found inside the secret seaside cave would turn even the stoutest meat eater into a confirmed veggie.

In addition to the remains of some 37 people, they discovered the pickled, severed limbs of several victims, sensible provision for future meals. The brood were subsequently found to have been living in incest and their children the issue of in-breeding.

The male side of this close family were executed by mutilation, while the females were shown a degree of leniency and simply burned.