The murder of Emma Caldwell was for a long time one of Scotland’s most famous unsolved cases. The 27-year-old sex worker was found naked in Limefield Woods in May 2005, five weeks after she was last seen in Glasgow. But on Wednesday, at the High Court in Glasgow, Iain Packer was sentenced to life for murder, in addition to 32 other assaults against a total of 22 women, writes the BBC. Emma Caldwell’s mum Margaret outside the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday. Photo: Andrew Milligan / Pa Photos Among the charges on which he was convicted were eleven counts of rape. – Iain Packer was a calculating sexual predator who purposefully went after women for many years. It is difficult to understand how someone can carry out such reckless and despicable actions, says police chief Bex Smith. Second longest prison sentence in Scotland Packer has throughout the trial claimed his innocence on all charges, except for one previous assault against Caldwell, The Guardian reports. The sentence is the second longest ever in the Scottish legal system. He must serve at least 36 years of his sentence before he can apply for parole. The mother: – I can breathe again Emma Caldswell’s mother, Margaret Caldwell, has said to the BBC: – When they found Emma, and came and told me that they had found the body, I took a big breath. And now it feels like I can let it out. I can breathe again and move on. On Wednesday, Packer was sentenced at Glasgow High Court. Photo: Scottish Courts and Tribunals According to the British media, the trial has brought with it a lot of criticism of the police in Scotland: Both for the original investigation, and for the attitudes towards sex workers who reported violence. The convicted 51-year-old couple were first reported for rape in 1990, but according to prosecutor Richard Goddard, the police were dismissive of reports from sex workers at the time. Police apologize: – Failed Emma Caldwell Police Scotland apologizes for how the department, which was then called Strathclyde Police, handled the case in 2005. – The police failed Emma Caldwell, her family and many other victims in 2005. We are sorry for that, the police say in a statement on Wednesday . – The lack of investigation until 2015 created unnecessary anxiety for her family and for all the women who have come forward to report sexual violence, they say further. Never considered a suspect, Packer has admitted, according to the Guardian, to taking sex workers to the wooded area where Caldwell’s body was found, but not to the actual discovery site. A forensic expert has said in the case that soil found in Packer’s van matches the soil where Caldwell’s body was found with 97 percent. The police received six statements from Packer between 2005 and 2007, and in 2007 are said to have taken two police officers to the forest area where the body was found, but he was never interviewed as a suspect. “Cold Case” At the time, the focus of the investigation was four Turkish men, who were charged with the murder in August 2007, but the case against them collapsed. The murder case remained unsolved until it was reopened in 2015. That year, the Scottish Sunday Mail named Packer as a forgotten suspect, and he himself contacted the BBC in 2018 with a desire to tell his story and clear his name. This led to a documentary in 2019, which prompted a former partner to come forward. Packer was arrested and jailed in February 2020 for assaulting this partner. In February 2022, he was arrested and charged with the murder of Emma Caldwell.
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Ian Packer convicted of murdering Emma Caldwell and 32 assaults on women – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
