For years, police and prosecutors knew who killed Emma and did nothing about it. Is that not worthy of inquiry too?

THE mother of murder victim Emma Caldwell has warned an inquiry into the police investigation will be a multi-million-pound whitewash without urgent action.

- BY JENNIFER HYLAND

Margaret Caldwell fears the planned public inquiry into one of Scotland's biggest justice scandals will be worthless if restricted to the initial probe into her daughter's death in 2005.

The inquiry’s terms of reference announced last week suggest it will examine only the actions of Strathclyde Police, which merged into Police Scotland in 2013 - 11 years before Iain Packer, a prime suspect wrongly freed by detectives, was finally convicted of Emma's murder.

It would mean there would be no scrutiny of the crucial period during which senior officers mounted an illegal mole hunt on Sunday Mail sources after we outed Packer on the front page in 2015 - while leaving the killer to walk free for almost a decade.

Margaret, 78, who has campaigned tirelessly for justice for her daughter, said: "From day one, this inquiry seems to have been set up to fail, to throw a blanket over what happened instead of shining a light on it.

"Terrible mistakes were made during the first investigation but, for years, police officers and prosecutors knew who killed Emma and did nothing about it. Is that not worthy of inquiry too?"

Packer, 53, was interviewed six times by detectives during the initial inquiry before taking them to the forest in Lanarkshire where Emma was found.

He was never spoken to again, however, as police wrongly pursued four Turkish suspects.

He was finally jailed for 36 years - the second longest sentence ever in Scotland - last February after being convicted of Emma's murder and 32 other charges, including 11 rapes, involving 22 other women.