The mother of murder victim Emma Caldwell has accused Scotland's Justice Secretary of facilitating a police cover-up over her daughter's death. Margaret Caldwell, 78, has demanded a meeting with Neil Gray after it emerged a public inquiry will not cover a crucial period during which detectives ignored damning evidence against killer Iain Packer while he continued raping and abusing women.
Inquiry limited to 2005-2015
The public inquiry ordered into what is regarded as one of Scotland's worst criminal justice scandals has been specifically limited to the period between Emma's murder in May 2005 and 2015. It means senior police and prosecutors who failed to act and may have suppressed evidence could escape scrutiny, while Packer's other victims would also be excluded from telling their stories.
In a letter to Gray sent through her lawyer Aamer Anwar, Margaret said: "My family and I put all our faith in this inquiry but we have no interest in an inquiry that might be stopped from uncovering the whole truth. Police Scotland had a part to play in Packer's crimes from 2013 until he was finally arrested in 2022, he did not stop committing rapes and sexual assaults, just because a Lord Advocate in 2015 ordered a new investigation."
Mother demands full truth
Margaret added: "I have lived and breathed this case for over 21 years and do not expect to be patronised. Until my dying breath I will fight to uncover the truth. I will now appeal to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Neil Gray to meet with me and to give me hope that we will not end up with an inquiry that leads to a dead end, because it would appear that the terms of reference effectively stop the Inquiry at 2015 in its search for the truth."
Margaret has spoken out after inquiry chair Lord Scott last week released a statement giving his interpretation of the terms of reference, which were set by the Scottish Government. He makes clear the period after 2015 will not be included. The inquiry has previously made clear only the Justice Secretary has the power to expand the remit of the probe.
Packer's crimes and conviction
Packer was jailed for 36 years in February 2024 after being convicted of Emma's murder and 32 charges, including 11 rapes, involving 22 other women. He was first spoken to by police in June 2005 before admitting taking a prostitute to woods outside Glasgow. In March 2007 Packer gave a fifth statement and took police to the woods where Emma's body had been found. Despite this, four Turkish men were instead pursued and it took another 16 years for Packer to be convicted.
Margaret's lawyer Anwar said: "On April 5th 2015 the Sunday Mail ran a front-page story on Ian Packer as The Forgotten Suspect. Two days later, instead of immediately reopening the murder investigation, Police Scotland launched an investigation to identify the paper's sources. Had it not been for the actions of then Sunday Mail editor Jim Wilson and other journalists, it is unlikely that Iain Packer would never have been brought to justice."
Calls for review of terms
Jim Wilson, who was Sunday Mail editor in 2015, echoed the Caldwell family's calls for justice secretary Neil Gray to urgently review and redraw the inquiry's terms of reference. He said inquiry chair Lord Scott must scrutinise the initial murder inquiry but, as importantly, establish why it took Police Scotland and the Crown Office almost a decade to put Packer in the dock after the investigation was reopened in 2015.
Wilson said: "The second investigation was a murder inquiry with only one suspect when officers in charge knew the most important evidence was already in their files. Instead of urgently delivering justice for Emma and her family, police and prosecutors delayed, deflected and dragged their feet. For almost a decade, they were complicit in one of Scotland's most dangerous men remaining free to commit countless more crimes against women. If this inquiry has not been set up to explain why, it has been set up to fail."
