◆ Timeline of events leading to the conviction of Iain Packer
October 1990: Rape allegation made against Iain Packer by an underage girl. The child’s family are dismissive of the allegations and Packer threatens to report her to police.
Mid-1990s: Packer is accused of raping a woman repeatedly and hitting her with a work boot. During the same attack he attempted to strangle the woman.
March 1999: A sex worker reports being raped by Packer, and took documents from his van to identify him, but no action is taken. The prosecution described police attitudes as “dismissive”.
2002: Emma Caldwell moves to Glasgow after being introduced to heroin in a bid to cope with the death of her older sister. She turns to sex work to fund habit.
August 2004: Packer indecently assaults Miss Caldwell behind a billboard at the Barras, Glasgow, ignoring her instruction to stop because he had “paid”.
March 2005: Packer gets his blue van, which will be central to the case. The same month he takes a “petrified” teenage sex worker to Limefield Woods and forces her to strip.
April 3, 2005: Margaret Caldwell spends day with her daughter, who tells her of plans to go to rehab, but she appears “nervous” and “agitated”. Mrs Caldwell says her daughter’s last words to her were “Bye, mum. Phone you Monday or Tuesday”.
April 4, 2005: Miss Caldwell is last seen alive near Glasgow Green in the city’s east end. Packer’s mobile phone data showed he frequented the area, a known red-light district, nearly as
often as his home.
April 6, 2005: Mrs Caldwell and her husband are unable to contact their daughter to change the day of a visit, and soon report her missing and launch a search in Glasgow.
May 8, 2005: The body of Miss Caldwell is found in Limefield Woods, South
Lanarkshire, by a dogwalker. A “garotte” had been placed around her neck and her possessions and clothing had been disposed of.
June 22, 2005: Packer is interviewed by police and lies, claiming not to know Miss Caldwell. He became “uncomfortable” when Miss Caldwell’s name was mentioned and terminated the interview.
July 5, 2005: Police interview Packer a second time and obtain a warrant to search his blue van.
August 2006: Packer is interviewed and tells police he forced a sex act on Miss Caldwell in 2004.
June to July 2006: A woman is abducted by Packer, who holds her in a house for two weeks and held a knife to her chest. Between 2004 and 2006 a “cluster” of attacks on sex workers took place.
March 2007: Police interview Packer on a voluntary basis, and take him to Limefield Woods. He tells police he lied during previous interviews and had been with Miss Caldwell “10 or 11 times”.
2015: Packer is investigated by the Sunday Mail newspaper, which presents him as the “forgotten” suspect in Miss Caldwell’s murder.
November 2018: Packer instigates an interview with the BBC “to clear his name”. He claims never to have visited Limefield Woods and that police “forced” him to visit. He says he has never been violent to women.
2019: Packer is interviewed again by the BBC. In total he is interviewed on three occasions. 2021: Analysis of soil samples taken from Limefield Woods is carried out, with a sample from the blue van owned by Packer in 2004. The prosecution in his trial cite this as as “97 per cent match”.
February 2022: Packer is arrested on suspicion of the murder of Miss Caldwell.
December 2022: Additional charges are brought.
January 2024: Packer goes on trial. He admits lying, but continues to insist he did not murder Miss Caldwell.
February 2024: Packer is convicted of murdering Emma Caldwell and attacking multiple women.