Emma's probe files shrouded in secrecy

THE file on one of Scotland’s most notorious murderers and serial rapists was marked “protected and closed” by police, a top lawyer has claimed.

- By Richard Elias

Iain Packer had been highlighted for years as a leading suspect in the killing of Emma Caldwell.

Yet, it would take almost two decades before he was finally convicted, during which time he was able to carry on attacking vulnerable women across Glasgow.

Yesterday, Emma’s family met Justice Secretary Angela Constance to demand a promised public inquiry into the-then Strathclyde Police's handling of the case begins as soon as possible.

Emma disappeared off a Glasgow street in April 2005 but her body was not found until six weeks later in a remote Lanarkshire forest.

Despite Packer’s name being repeatedly linked to the murder of the 27-year-old, circled, police hierarchy ignored those warnings and concentrated on four innocent Turkish men.

The proposed prosecution of them collapsed in 2007 and it would be a further 17 years before Packer was convicted.

Even the intervention of a top legal figure was not enough to change the direction of the investigation.

Last night, the Caldwell family’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said the probe was beset by “misogyny and police corruption”.

He claimed the public inquiry which was promised more than a year ago was the only way to get to the truth.

Mr Anwar went on: “Emma Caldwell was 27 years old when she was murdered in 2005 by a serial rapist.