The Scottish Government has announced a public inquiry examining major police failings that allowed one of the UK’s most prolific rapists to escape justice for a quarter of a century.
The family of Emma Caldwell, who was murdered by serial sex attacker Iain Packer in 2005, had been pushing Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf for a judge-led inquiry.
It comes after 51-year-old Packer was convicted of strangling and dumping Ms Caldwell’s naked remains in a ditch forty miles from Glasgow’s red light district where she had been a sex worker.
The 27-year-old had fallen into a life of prostitution to feed her heroin addiction after the tragic loss of her sister to cancer.
Packer was jailed for 36 years for also raping and abusing more than twenty other vulnerable women from 1999. He was not arrested until 2022.
Sky News previously revealed Packer was known to police as being “sexually violent” at least two years before Ms Caldwell was murdered.
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Two former sex workers described being attacked by the predator, but they were ignored by senior officers when they raised the alarm. One woman was even arrested for prostitution when she reported Packer had abused her.
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Packer was interviewed a number of times by detectives as part of the original 2005 investigation but was not arrested or charged for 17 years, despite admitting he had driven Ms Caldwell to the remote spot.
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The re-investigation that eventually brought the rapist to justice years later examined more than 50,000 pieces of evidence.
The Chief Constable of Police Scotland Jo Farrell has apologised to Ms Caldwell’s family and the other women who were failed.
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Chief Constable Farrell has backed calls for a public inquiry.
The first minister also met with the Caldwell family earlier this week as Packer confirmed his intention to appeal against his conviction and jail sentence.
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