EMMA CALDWELL MURDER TRIAL VERDICT
A man has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of Emma Caldwell almost 19 years ago.
Iain Packer was yesterday convicted of strangling Emma and concealing her body in Limefield Woods, South Lanarkshire.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 36 years – the second-longest jail term ever handed down in Scotland.
The 51-year-old faced a total of 36 charges involving offences against 25 women, all of which he denied at the High Court in Glasgow.
He lodged special defences of incrimination, consent, defence of another and self-defence.
But yesterday, he was convicted of 33 of those charges including 11 rapes.
Ms Caldwell, who had been a sex worker in Glasgow, last seen on CCTV around 11pm on Monday, April 4, 2005, walking alone on Butterbiggins Road towards Victoria Road in the south of the city.
Her family searched for her tirelessly before her body was finally discovered by a dog walker on May 8.
Judge Lord Beckett told the court yesterday that Ms Caldwell died in “truly terrifying circumstances”.
He said that Packer had preyed on the vulnerable and caused “extreme and enduring suffering for so many women and their families”.
During his sentencing, he paid tribute to Packer’s victims and Emma’s family for their courage and quest for justice.
He said her mother Margaret Caldwell’s campaigning “is a living testament to her love for her daughter and the enormity of her loss”.
Yesterday, Margaret, from Erskine, said she feels “no joy, elation or closure”,
Heart of gold but remained a parent shattered by grief.
A statement read out by family lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “It is only because of the perseverance of a mother and father, and the many women who so courageously came forward, that justice is possible.
“Over the years I have stood on the steps of the High Court and said the ‘dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them’.
Emma’s now deceased dad William, brother Jamie, deceased sister Karen and mum Margaret
Well, Margaret Caldwell, Emma’s mother, has more than fulfilled that duty.
Emma loved horses
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
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7
9 11 15 17
19 21
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Remove soap from broken siren (5) Collapsed around part of church (4) Fire right for garment (6)
Staring at a torn page (5)
Bird at church has a couple of fellows chin-wagging (9)
Nine legs running around school, weakening (9)
Praised, oddly, for anguish (7) Appealing not to lose everything (7) Rubbish in statistics (3)
Conclusion gives listener cause to be loved (6)
Weak force on track (5)
Father has hesitation getting small felines (5)
Need to rearrange garden (4)