TOP COP BACKS EMMA INQUIRY
Lawyer says any officers who broke law must be punished
The head of Police Scotland has backed calls from the mother of emma Caldwell for a public inquiry into the botched investigation into her murderer.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell apologised to Margaret Caldwell and her family for failures in policing in 2005, when the 27-year-old was killed.
Iain Packer, 51, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years last week after being convicted of murdering the sex worker. He was also found guilty of 11 charges of rape against nine women and convicted of 21 other charges following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Packer committed 19 of his crimes after murdering Emma, “believing he had lifelong immunity” due to police inaction, a press conference with her family was told yesterday.
The family’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said Packer is now “irrelevant” and their focus is on the authorities.
Anwar called for two senior police officers to be held to account and called for Crown immunity to be waived at a public inquiry, opening the door to prosecution.
Farrell praised the “courage, resilience, and determination” of Emma’s family.
She said: “It is important that Emma’s family and the public get answers to the many questions they have. I therefore support the family’s calls for a public inquiry. I absolutely commit that Police Scotland will fully participate in any further proceedings.”
Anwar said the family dismissed the Crown Office’s investigation, which found no criminality from police officers as “unbelievable, untenable and disrespectful”, adding: “Emma’s family believe it is not only Iain Packer who evaded justice for nearly 19 years but police officers who betrayed the most fundamental duty of all, to protect life.
“The family are grateful that the Chief Constable has stated she fully supports their demands for a public inquiry; that is the only way the police service of Scotland and former officers can ever truly be held to account.”
He said any officers found to have broken the law should face a jail term and said the scale of “the crimes and the failures are so catastrophic that nothing less than a public inquiry will suffice”.
Anwar said: “The conduct of the police from 2005 until 2016 can only be described as the worst scandal in our legal history.
“When Margaret said police officers had blood on their hands, she very much included one of the UK’s most senior officers, Stephen House, as well as William Rae, who was chief constable when Emma was murdered.
“From 2007, Mr House presided over years of the misery that saw multiple women raped and a killer emboldened by a belief that he had lifelong immunity.
“If there is no time limit on justice then any officers suspected of criminality must be prosecuted and those in our criminal justice system including Crown Office should finally be held to account.”
Margaret and her family are due to meet the Lord Advocate today in Edinburgh.
Anwar added: “Should a public inquiry be announced, the Chief Constable promised the family that Police Scotland would fully cooperate but the family sought an assurance that any officers past or present called to give evidence will be denied the right to immunity from prosecution.
“If they have nothing to hide, then they have nothing to fear from speaking with candour. If they broke the law, they must face the prospect of imprisonment.”
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “We feel that to respect this meeting, it would not be appropriate to comment publicly on matters which should be discussed first with Emma’s family.”