Caldwell public inquiry

Margaret Caldwell will meet the leaders of Scotland’s justice system this week as she continues to demand a public inquiry into the repeated failures of the police investigating her daughter’s murder.

Emma Caldwell was murdered by Iain Packer in April 2005.

The serial sex offender was last week convicted of murdering Emma and concealing her body in Limefield Woods in South Lanarkshire.

Found guilty of a further 32 crimes against vulnerable women, he was sentenced to life in prision with a minimum term of 36 years.

Margaret , from Erskine, has since learned senior officers on the initial investigation refused to name Packer as a suspect despite repeated warnings he was a sexually violent man who knew Emma and had taken sex workers to the remote woodland.

Today, Caldwell family lawyer Aamer Anwar said Margaret will meet First Minister Humza Yousaf, Chief Constable Jo Farrell and Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC to discuss Strathclyde Police’s failure to act on that information.

The meeting with the First Minister will take place at Bute House this afternoon and follows comments from Mr Yousaf that he was actively considering a public inquiry.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament during First Minister’s Questions, he said the government must await any decision by Packer to appeal the verdict but added:“A judge-led public inquiry is something that we’re exploring, is absolutely not off the table and is something we’re giving very serious consideration to given the systemic failings in this case.”

The Express reported last week how Packer carried out rapes, sexual offences and assaults 19 times after Emma’s murder in 2005.