He Acted Out His Sickest Fantasies on Her… Then Did This | True Crime Documentary

In May 2005, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, a man was walking his dog through Limefield Woods, a remote forested area southwest of Glasgow. During the walk, the dog suddenly ran into some thick underbrush and refused to come back. Its owner called for it several times, but the dog kept sniffing at something beneath the bushes.

When the man walked over and leaned in for a closer look, he made a horrifying discovery, the body of a woman. She was lying face down, partially undressed, with a ligature around her neck and numerous bruises covering her body. Investigators immediately realized that she had been there for quite some time and had been strangled to death.

Because the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, investigators were only able to identify the victim through dental records and DNA. She was Emma Caldwell. Emma was born on January 31st, 1978, to William and Margaret Caldwell. She grew up alongside her older sister, Karen, with whom she shared an especially close bond.

As a child, she attended Brownies, took part in a drama club, and enjoyed horseback riding. She loved horses more than anything and dreamed of working with them, eventually getting a job at a local stable. Her life changed dramatically when Karen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A few years later, her sister died of cancer when Emma was only 20 years old.

The loss devastated her. Struggling to cope with her grief, she agreed to try heroin after her boyfriend assured her it would help numb the pain. It quickly turned into a severe addiction. Her parents did everything they could to save their daughter, even seeking medical help, but nothing worked at the time.

 Eventually, Emma moved out of her parents’ home and in with her boyfriend. After they broke up, she moved into a women’s hostel in Glasgow. Despite her addiction, her parents never abandoned her. They regularly helped her with food, laundry, phone expenses, and stayed in constant contact. The family even had a tradition. Every Wednesday, William would visit his daughter, bring groceries, top up her phone, and take her laundry home to wash.

On Sundays, Margaret would return her clean clothes, bring her treats, and spend a few hours with Emma. They also spoke on the phone almost every day. On April 3rd, 2005, Margaret visited her daughter as she always did. Together, they bought a card and flowers for Emma’s grandmother, then had a meal at McDonald’s.

But this time, Emma seemed unusually nervous and asked her mother to take her straight back to the hostel, even though they normally stayed together talking for much longer. Before saying goodbye, Emma told her mother she would call on Monday or Tuesday. Those were the last words Margaret ever heard from her daughter.

On the evening of April 4th, Emma left for work. Because of her addiction, she needed around 100 pounds every day, so she worked as a sex worker. Before leaving, she tied her blonde hair into a ponytail, put on a dark brown jacket with a fur collar, and wore brown heeled boots. At 10:45 that night, surveillance cameras captured Emma leaving the hostel and heading toward Victoria Road.

 She was later seen on London Road, an area where sex workers operated. After that, she disappeared without a trace. A few days later, her parents began to worry. Emma was not answering her phone calls and failed to show up for a planned meeting with her father. For the family, this was completely out of character, since they were in contact almost every day.

Five days after the last confirmed sighting of her, William and Margaret reported her missing to the police. Law enforcement immediately launched a search, looking into Emma’s acquaintances and retracing her final known movements. One of her friends recalled that they often spent evenings walking around the city and talking only about positive things, but she hadn’t seen Emma recently, either.

On May 8th, 2005, just over a month after Emma disappeared, her body was discovered by a man walking his dog in Limefield Woods. The case was then officially reclassified from a missing person investigation to a murder investigation. Police searched Emma’s room twice, but found nothing that could lead them to a suspect.

 Some potential pieces of evidence were collected, but they were stored improperly, causing them to lose their evidentiary value. The investigation was later criticized for numerous mistakes made while processing the scene where Emma’s body was found. The area was cordoned off, but investigators used the same path that people normally walked along.

 As a result, possible traces left by the killer, including shoe prints, hair, or other evidence, may have been destroyed or permanently damaged at the very beginning of the investigation. Friends, let me interrupt the story for just a minute. I’m really curious where my audience is watching from, so I’d love for you to tell me what city you’re watching this video from and what time it is where you are. Thanks so much.

Leave your answer in the comments, and I’ll get right back to the story. >> This is difficult to comprehend. >> Oh, Emma. >> Love you, Emma. >> How could anyone How could anyone [laughter] do that? >> The investigative team began looking into Emma’s former clients. They were able to do this by analyzing the activity on her phone.

Emma’s phone contained the contact information for 50 clients, but she also worked by getting into the cars of men she had never met before. Police managed to interview several men who had used her services. Their ages ranged from 19 to 76. However, investigators ran into a major problem.

 Many of them were reluctant to cooperate. Some flatly denied ever knowing Emma, while others tried to reveal as little as possible. Before long, investigators gained access to Emma’s phone records. They discovered that the last person to call her on the night before she disappeared was a client. The call came in at 11:20 p.m. and lasted 1 minute and 16 seconds.

Law enforcement later identified the number as belonging to a 28-year-old Turkish man named Abu Bakr Onsu. At the time, he was living in the eastern part of Glasgow. During questioning, he told investigators that he had contacted Emma before, but only once. According to Abu Bakr, he did not remember speaking to Emma on the night she disappeared.

If the conversation had actually taken place, he said he had simply forgotten about it. He did, however, admit that he had met Emma once in the past and paid her for sexual services. But one detail immediately caught investigators’ attention. They learned that the day after Emma disappeared, Abu Bakr flew to Turkey.

The timing seemed highly suspicious. Despite that, Abu Bakr was fairly cooperative. He explained that he had traveled to Turkey for his wedding and insisted that he would return to the United Kingdom immediately after the ceremony. That is exactly what happened. As soon as he arrived back in the UK, police met him at the airport and brought him in for another interview.

During the second interview, Abu Bakr once again stated that he had not seen Emma on the night she disappeared. The rest of his statement also remained unchanged. Investigators collected nail and hair samples, photographed him, and documented a shallow scratch on his neck. However, there was not enough evidence to justify arresting him, so police were forced to let him go.

Even so, law enforcement now considered Abu Bakr their primary suspect. He was placed under covert surveillance, his movements were monitored, and investigators secretly installed several listening devices inside his home. Over time, they collected many hours of audio recordings. In those recordings, Abubakar talked about Emma and admitted that he knew he was under investigation.

In one of the recordings, Abubakar’s roommates also discussed Emma. They said the police had done a good job, while also speaking about her with contempt, saying that she was a prostitute and should never have been involved in prostitution. And those were far from the only recordings investigators would later use as evidence in the case.

Over the following months, police also focused their attention on a cafe owned by Hussein Kobanaglu. The location was well-known as a base where sex workers operated. Women were offered alcohol inside, then taken upstairs to a room with a mattress on the floor. Sometimes consensual sex took place there in exchange for money, but in other cases, the women became victims of rape or sexual assault.

 On August 9th, police raided the cafe. The operation included forensic specialists who thoroughly searched the premises and began examining every possible piece of physical evidence. >> Specially trained forensics officers examine a Turkish community center on Glasgow’s Bridge Street raided by police this morning. >> Investigators thoroughly searched the cafe, looking for any evidence that could lead them to Emma’s killer.

During the search, they discovered a blanket stained with blood. Along with hundreds of other potential pieces of evidence, the blanket was sent to the forensic laboratory, but it would prove to be the most significant find. Forensic testing confirmed that the blood on the blanket belonged to Emma. After that, police received authorization to expand their covert surveillance.

In addition to the listening devices, they installed four hidden cameras in the kitchen, throughout the cafe, and in the room on the second floor. As part of the operation, an undercover police officer was also sent into the cafe. The translators responsible for reviewing the recordings reported that they had heard conversations containing information of extraordinary importance to the investigation.

According to the recordings, one man accused another of taking Emma. The conversations also included claims that she had been killed after being treated like an animal, strangled to death, and that her jacket had been taken and thrown into bushes near a casino. One of the men also directly stated that he knew exactly who had killed her.

Police then searched the bushes near the casino. There they found several items investigators believed may have belonged to Emma. Among them were a black sweater, a t-shirt, and a keychain. Forensic experts also concluded that the items had been lying in the bushes since approximately the same time Emma disappeared.

Based on the evidence collected, investigators concluded that the attack on Emma had taken place inside the cafe where she was later strangled to death. According to the investigation, after the murder, Emma’s body was wrapped in a carpet, transported to a drainage ditch hidden among the trees, and left there in an attempt to conceal the crime.

>> Dramatic developments in the hunt for the killer of Emma Caldwell. Tonight, police have arrested four men in connection with her death. >> Late this afternoon, the men, thought to be of Turkish origin, were charged with Emma Caldwell’s murder. >> On August 31st, 2007, police arrested 32-year-old Abubaker Onsu, 55-year-old Hussein Cobanoglu, 34-year-old Halil Kandil, and 35-year-old Mustafa Soylu.

All four men were charged with Emma’s murder, but each of them categorically denied any involvement in the crime. During the investigation, Abubaker claimed that he did not even know the other three defendants and had no connection to them whatsoever. >> Earlier today, I spoke to the defense lawyer for one of the accused.

 He maintains his innocence. Um the difficulty is that proceedings are still live, inquiries are still continuing, so it would be inappropriate to comment any further. >> But another major problem soon emerged. The primary evidence used to justify the arrests of the four men came from secretly recorded conversations that had been translated from Turkish into English.

However, when the recordings were played for the suspects themselves, it became clear that the translations were inaccurate. >> [music] >> In reality, the men never said that Emma had been strangled, nor did they mention that her jacket had supposedly been thrown into bushes near the casino. The translators working with police had only a basic command of Turkish and lacked the qualifications needed to accurately translate the recordings, resulting in numerous errors.

More experienced translators were then brought into the case, and they confirmed that the original translations contained many inaccuracies. In reality, the recordings contained no evidence linking the suspects to the murder. Even the clothing found in the bushes did not contain Emma’s DNA. In addition, the clothing did not even match the appearance of the items Emma had been known to wear or own.

As for the blood found on the blanket, it did match Emma’s DNA. Investigators believe the blood may have been left there during an earlier occasion when she injected heroin. In the end, all four men were released. After that, there were no further arrests, and the investigation effectively reached a dead end.

 It seemed that every lead investigators pursued ultimately went nowhere. Every suspect identified by police was eventually ruled out, and before long, Emma’s murder officially remained unsolved. In 2015, Police Scotland reopened Emma’s case at the direction of the Lord Advocate. Assistant Chief Constable for Major Crime and Public Protection Beck Smith stated that far more investigative work should have been carried out following the original murder investigation in 2005.

Investigators then began interviewing sex workers about the men who had used their services around 2005 in the area where Emma worked. >> [music] >> Independently of one another, several women described the same man. His name had surfaced repeatedly during the original investigation into Emma’s murder. In fact, he had been interviewed multiple times between 2005 and 2007.

However, senior police officials dismissed those leads because they did not believe he was the killer. That man was Ian Packer. Many years later, Ian himself contacted journalist Sam Poling in an effort to clear his name. Over time, they exchanged numerous emails and eventually recorded a lengthy interview. During the interview, Ian explained that he had lived under a cloud of suspicion for years.

According to him, he wanted to restore his reputation, reclaim his life, and give his family peace of mind. He also emphasized that these accusations had followed him for many years. One of his main arguments was that if he truly had something to hide, he never would have agreed to speak publicly about the case.

During the interview, Ian insisted that he had never harmed anyone. He admitted that he had paid for sex, but claimed that he had never been a violent man. However, those claims directly contradicted the accounts of women who had known him. A woman named Magdalene said that Ian had tried to rape her. According to her, it happened when she was only 15 years old while her sister was dating Ian.

One evening, he allegedly attempted to rape her. Magdalene told her sister about the assault and reported it to the police, but no action was taken. After that, her sister continued the relationship with Ian. So, he remained a regular presence in her life and, according to Magdalene, went on to subject her to ongoing physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.

Other women also described his violent behavior. Former partners portrayed him as an extremely controlling and abusive man. And they also said that he regularly paid for sex. One woman reported that Ian once locked her inside a house and on another occasion threatened her with a knife. More allegations of violence later surfaced.

 One woman claimed that Ian extinguished cigarettes on her head, leaving burn marks. Another said that he wrapped a vacuum cleaner cord around her neck. As investigators returned to Emma’s case, they noticed major inconsistencies in Ian’s statements. During his initial interviews, he claimed that he did not know Emma, and even said that he could not remember the names of any women he had ever paid for sex.

However, in later interviews, his story changed. He admitted that he knew some of the sex workers quite well, and that Emma Caldwell was one of them. According to Ian, he even went out of his way to seek out Emma specifically. Describing one of those encounters, Ian said they had arranged to have sex, but once they met, Emma changed her mind and said she no longer wanted to go through with it.

He claimed that he tried to persuade her, reminding her that they had already made an agreement, and that he had paid for the service. According to him, Emma eventually managed to break free and was extremely upset. In effect, Ian had just described actions that amounted to a confession of rape. However, police were unable to use that statement as evidence because, at the time, he had been interviewed as a witness, rather than as a suspect, and his legal rights had not been formally explained to him.

Ian also insisted to investigators that he had never taken Emma outside Glasgow and was unfamiliar with the area in Lanarkshire where the woods in which her body was found were located. However, several women told police that Ian had repeatedly driven them to that very forest. One of them, Natalie, said that a regular client frequently drove her to a remote wooded area.

When police showed her a photo lineup, she immediately identified Ian Packer without hesitation. Investigators then asked Natalie to show them exactly where he had taken her. Remarkably, she was able to remember the route with complete accuracy, and led them directly to the exact location where Emma’s body had once been found.

>> I’m at Detective Superintendent David McClure from Police Scotland and I’m the senior investigating officer in the reinvestigation into the murder of Emma Caldwell. Today marks 12 years to the day since Emma was last seen and as part of our reinvestigation we are carrying out fresh searches at an area wooded area in Lanarkshire near Roberton where Emma’s body was found.

As part of our press appeal today I am appealing to any women who were involved in prostitution or may still be involved in prostitution who in the last 15 years may have been taken to that area. I would appeal to those women to get in touch with us as soon as possible I’m certain that they will hold information that would be crucial to us identifying the person that killed Emma.

I understand that women may be reluctant to come forward to the police but I just like to take this opportunity to reassure you that we are not interested in what activities you may have been involved in over the years or casting any sort of opinions on your background and how you came to be involved in prostitution.

 I would just ask you to get in touch with us you have no doubt that you hold information that would be crucial to us finding the person who killed Emma. >> Three more women came forward and told police that a man driving a van matching the one Ian used had also taken them to the same forest. After reviewing police photo lineups each of them identified Ian without hesitation.

There was another extremely important piece of evidence linking Ian to multiple assaults and confirming that both sex workers and police already knew him as a dangerous man. It was a special log known as the Beware Book in which sex workers recorded the names of men and documented dangerous encounters to warn others.

Ian Packer’s name appeared in the book many times often alongside the aliases he used. Many of the entries described the same pattern. According to the women the man would pick them up in his vehicle, drive for about an hour to a remote wooded area, and then either have sex with them or, if they refused, rape them.

One of the women who made an entry in the Beware book reported that just a few months before Emma’s murder, she had been taken to that very same forest. There, she said, she was raped by a client, Ian Packer. Throughout the entire police investigation, there was not a single documented case of any other man taking women to that remote wooded area.

Every report of that nature involved Ian. During his fourth interview, Ian finally admitted that he had, in fact, taken sex workers to remote wooded areas. He also described an incident in which one of the women told him she no longer wanted to have sex. According to Ian, that made him angry, and he told her that it was the second time she had done that to him.

 He then ordered her to take off her clothes so they could get it over with as quickly as possible and go home. During the same interview, he also described other incidents in which he had forced women to undress against their will in that same area. In March 2007, 2 years after Emma’s murder, Ian personally led police to the forest he had been talking about.

 It turned out to be the exact location where Emma’s body had been found. When investigators asked why he had never mentioned this before, why he had initially lied by claiming he did not know Emma at all, and why he had repeatedly changed his statements, Ian explained that he was afraid he would be blamed for her death.

He admitted that he had been with Emma at that very location, and that he had been violent toward her in the past. However, he insisted that he had nothing to do with her murder. After this information came to light, one of the detectives asked his superiors for permission to arrest Ian Packer immediately.

 Instead, he was ordered to release him. Why that decision was made has never been explained to the public. After that, the investigation once again reached a dead end. In 2011, Emma’s father, William, died without ever seeing justice for his daughter. >> He was broken-hearted about Emma. And then he passed away, and the last thing he said to me was, “Go on.

You have to go on. Don’t let this go.” >> It wasn’t until 2015, after a dedicated cold case review team was established, and following mounting public pressure and growing criticism of the original investigation, that authorities decided to conduct a full review of Emma Caldwell’s case. As part of the new investigation, detectives re-examined more than 30,000 documents and over 23,000 pieces of evidence.

By then, forensic technology had advanced significantly, allowing investigators to apply modern testing methods, including detailed soil and environmental analysis. Soil samples collected from the footwell of Ian’s van were compared with soil taken from the forest where Emma’s body had been found. The results showed a 97% match, the highest level of correlation that this testing method could provide.

Experts concluded that there was a very high probability Ian’s van had been at the exact location where Emma’s body was discovered. In 2019, the BBC Scotland investigative documentary Who Killed Emma, created by Sam Poling, helped draw public attention to the numerous inconsistencies and failures in the original investigation.

Later, portions of the interviews Sam had conducted with Ian were admitted into the case as evidence. >> I don’t believe you’ve been telling me the truth. All the evidence I’ve seen and everything that I have learned um makes it clear that you are a sexually violent man. >> Not sexually violent man.

 What are you on? >> women. >> I’ve never raped anyone in my life. >> You told me you’d never been to the place where Emma’s body was found. >> Absolutely. >> You’ve been there many times, according to all the evidence I’ve seen. The first woman you took to those woods was Emma. >> No, it wasn’t. >> Ian Packer was arrested.

 He was charged with murder, multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, physical assault, and kidnapping. The charges related to attacks on multiple women that investigators alleged he had committed over the course of many years. >> Yeah, you know, that’s the suspension of murder, attempt to defeat the ends of justice, rape and common law times nine.

Rape section one sex offenses Scotland Act 2009 times two. Attempted rape and common law. Abduction times three. Indecent and/or sexual assault common law times 12. Sexual assault section three sex offenses Scotland Act 2009 times three and assault times six. Tell me your involvement relating to the rape and murder of Emma Caldwell.

>> No problem. >> So, I had said to him at the end of the first interview, “Look, I’m going to go away and investigate everything you’ve told me and I’m going to get you back for a second interview. And I’m going to put to you the evidence that I find.” And he says, “That’s fine.” And I say, “And if I find evidence against you that leads me to point the finger at you, I will point the finger.

” And he says, “No problem.” So, then when I get him back for that second interview, and I remember standing outside the building and saying, “Come on, let’s go in.” And he looks at me and he says, “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to hear what you find find you found out.” And he sits down and my very first thing I say to him is, “I don’t believe you’ve been telling me the truth.

 I think you’re a violent sexual predator who’s raped multiple women and basically I believe that you are responsible for the murder of Emma Caldwell.” And you can see, and I think you could see his face in some of that interview, the color goes and his breathing changes and it’s literally like the oxygen has been sucked out of the room and I mean I’ve never been in in in such a highly charged interview ever and I probably never will again.

 It was it wasn’t a pleasant moment for him or actually for anybody who’s in that room. >> Ian Packer faces 46 charges amongst them multiple rapes and sexual assaults. He’s also accused of the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005. The cause of death was strangulation. >> Ian Packer pleaded not guilty to every charge against him, including the murder of Emma.

During the trial, the prosecution presented a substantial body of evidence. It included forensic test results, thousands of documents, records from numerous police interviews, as well as recordings of the interviews Ian had previously given to journalist Sam Poling. >> Ian Packer was twice interviewed by journalist Samantha Poling for a BBC documentary which aired in 2019.

 The jury heard the first interview lasted over 2 hours, and it was Packer who first made contact because of concerns his police statements were being leaked to the press. Footage of the interview was shown to the jury. Packer told the journalist he had paid Emma for sex 10 or 11 times over a long period.

 He said he’d heard of Emma’s death before police contacted him. He remembered seeing an appeal poster outside a casino. He told the reporter, “I thought it was a horrible thing that happened to her.” Packer’s position throughout the first interview was he’d never been outside of Glasgow with any sex worker, let alone Emma Caldwell.

 During the first interview, the jury heard Ian Packer claiming he had never been to the remote Lanarkshire woods where Emma’s body was found. He said the first time he went there was when police had taken him. Under cross-examination by the defense, the journalist agreed that Ian Packer originally sat down with her in a bid to try and clear his name.

 Defense advocate Ronnie Renucci asked if the information she had received about Ian Packer had all been obtained by legitimate means. The witness replied her sources remain confidential. Ian Packer denies all 46 charges against him. The trial will continue tomorrow. Brandon Cook, STV News, at the High Court in Glasgow. >> During the trial, Ian’s alibi also came under scrutiny.

For years, he had claimed that on the night of Emma’s murder, he was at home with his fiance and their newborn baby. However, their child was only 10 days old at the time. Because of that, Ian’s fiance kept detailed written records as part of the baby’s care plan. She carefully documented each day, including who was at the house, the baby was fed, and how the night had gone.

The entry made on the night of Emma Caldwell’s murder indicated that Ian was not at home at that time. He later claimed that he had actually been at work that night. >> A woman has told a jury that a man accused of murdering Emma Caldwell attempted to strangle her with a cord of a Hoover.

 The witness said Ian Packer subjected her to numerous physical and sexual assaults. >> She told the court of a time when Ian Packer lost his temper during an argument. In a fit of rage, she says he held the flex of a Hoover between his fists, put it behind her head, and tried to strangle her. The jury was told Packer would drive this woman around Glasgow’s red-light district.

 She said he was constantly looking at who was on the street. The woman also said Packer would regularly go out for long periods, sometimes entire weekends, and was spending money on prostitutes, gambling, and drugs. Police first interviewed the woman in 2006 during investigations into the death of Emma Caldwell. The High Court heard from another woman who claimed Packer had raped and repeatedly sexually assaulted her from the age of 14.

She said, “He molested me every single second, every time he got the chance.” The witness added she did not tell people close to her because she was not believed. >> After a 5-week trial and 4 days of jury deliberations, on February 18th, 2024, Ian Packer was found guilty on 33 charges involving crimes against 22 different women.

The court sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum term of 36 years before he becomes eligible for parole. >> Today, Margaret Colwell wishes to honor those women, some of whom were sex workers who spoke up not just for Emma, but for the many unknown victims of Ian Packer. But Margaret also wishes to acknowledge those who have been lost due to illness, overdose, and other forms of harm.

Those women were a part of our communities. They were important to their loved ones, to their families, and should have been important to the police. A toxic culture of misogyny and corruption meant that the police failed so many women and girls who came forward to speak against Packer. Instead of receiving justice and compassion, they were humiliated, they were dismissed, and in some instances, they were arrested.

 Whilst the police gifted freedom to an evil predator to rape and to rape again. After the verdict, Ian attempted to appeal his sentence, but the court dismissed his appeal. >> These former police officers who worked on the murder inquiry have broken their silence. The evidence against Packer, they say, was there all along, yet senior officers repeatedly dismissed him as a suspect, instead wrongly pursuing four Turkish men for the murder.

>> They couldn’t lose face. If they were to turn around and say, “We’ve made a mistake here. We’ve spent all this public money.” Their careers would have been finished, and they knew that. So, they bluffed it out. >> This detective asked for Packer to be made a suspect. He was told, “No.” >> There was identification there of more than one No, not just him, the van, his behavior.

Several girls had um picked him out of the photographs. He’s admitting to more and more. So, I phoned Willie Johnston, who was the senior investigating officer. And I said to him, “I want to detain Ian Packer for the murder of Emma Caldwell.” To which he replied, “Do not detain him. He is not our man. Release him.

” >> It wouldn’t be the only time this detective was told to bring Packer in for another statement. >> And I’m told at that point, “But Davie, when you get Ian Packer and bring him in, it doesn’t matter what he tells you. Doesn’t matter what he tells you. He won’t be an accused of in this case.” >> Who tells you this? >> This IO.

Willie Johnston. >> Willie Johnston retired as a detective superintendent in 2014. He declined to provide a statement to the BBC. We asked Police Scotland for a statement. They said this. “Emma Caldwell, her family, and many other victims were let down by policing in 2005. For that, we are sorry. A significant number of women and girls who showed remarkable courage to speak up at the time also did not get the justice and support they needed and deserved from Strathclyde Police.

” >> The length of time Ian went without being properly investigated had tragic consequences for other women after Emma’s murder. 12 of the charges brought against him involved crimes that investigators alleged were committed after her death. For years, despite the early warning signs, numerous reports from victims, inconsistencies in his statements, and repeated opportunities to take action, Ian remained free.

Even the fact that he personally led police to the forest where Emma’s body was found was not considered sufficient grounds to arrest him. >> Did you get an insight into the world in which the women and Emma was living in? >> I was naive to all this. I’d no idea. We just thought she wanted to stay at the hostel till she could get into rehabilitation some way.

Uh we knew she was a heroin addict, which was a terrible thing. And we worried about all the time. But we’d absolutely no knowledge that she worked in the streets of Glasgow to fuel that habit. We didn’t know how much it cost. It was really hard to take. >> It begs the question that in 2005, Emma is murdered.

In 2007, the four Turkish men are falsely accused of the crime, one of whom happened to be my client. We knew very early on as defense lawyers, Ian Packer is in the frame. We knew there was evidence there. Police officers within Strathclyde Police at the time knew it was him. So, you had two distinct teams, and yet for some reason, those those police officers had their lives ruined, their careers ruined, the ones who pointed the finger at Ian Packer, and the ones who were involved with going after false the false accusation,

cuz they were false. It wasn’t the four Turkish men. They went on to bigger and better things. And we are now asking for a full statutory inquiry into the actions of Strathclyde Police and Police Scotland after that, and those individuals whose fingerprints were on this case, because it Six of those women out apart from Emma are now dead.

 They never saw justice. It begs the question why this man was allowed to be free, to roam the streets, to rape, to kill, to abduct, to torture, and to ruin other women’s lives. And there is there’s also the question of misogyny. I think there was a toxic culture at the time of misogyny combined with corruption that meant that women who were vulnerable, women who had drug addictions, and women who were sex workers didn’t matter, but they did matter.

>> After Ian’s conviction, the Scottish government announced the launch of a public inquiry into the way the case had been handled. Its purpose was to determine how so many investigative failures had been allowed to happen and why they had remained uncorrected for such a long time. The Be Aware book, which would later become one of the most significant and shocking pieces of evidence in the case, had already been known to police in 2005.

However, no meaningful action was taken at the time. Ian Packer was already on law enforcement’s radar and had even personally shown investigators the location where Emma’s body was found. Among sex workers, he had long been known as a violent and aggressive man with a history of attacking women. The public inquiry was officially established in December 2025 and as of 2026 is still ongoing.

Its mission is to identify the systemic failures that allowed Ian Packer to remain free for nearly 20 years, as well as determine which missed opportunities led to such a prolonged delay in justice. In particular, the inquiry is examining failures in investigative strategy, shortcomings within the Crown Office, and broader procedural and organizational failures.

More recently, during one of the inquiry’s hearings, Emma’s mother, Margaret, shared her memories of her daughter. According to Margaret, Emma was an exceptionally kind and gentle person who was always willing to help others. She loved horses more than anything along with her family. The entire Caldwell family adored her, but they were deprived of a wonderful daughter, sister, niece, and aunt.

For the Caldwell family, as well as for the women who survived violence, this public inquiry represents not only a chance to hold those responsible accountable, but also the hope that the full truth about what happened to Emma and about every failure that followed her murder, will finally be uncovered.