Emma Caldwell's mum vows to continue fight for justice 20 years after daughter's brutal murder
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail following the 20th anniversary of Emma's death Margaret has said she can't wait any longer for the truth which she believes many have never wanted to be revealed.
Emma Caldwell's mum has vowed to uncover the truth behind why her daughter's killer was left free to rape and terrorise women for almost two decades.
Iain Packer picked up Emma in Glasgow in 2005 and drove her 41 miles to Limefield Woods in Biggar, Lanarkshire, where he strangled her. Her body was found the following month by a dog walker.
But it wasn't until 19 years later that Packer was brought to justice due botched investigations by police and prosecutors, which focused on other suspects despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to him as the killer.
Following Margaret's relentless fight for her answers, the Scottish Government ordered an independent Public Inquiry into what went wrong with the original investigation.
However, it took ministers a year to appoint Scottish high court judge Lord Scott to head the forthcoming probe into Police Scotland's bungled handling of the investigation with still no start date set as yet.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail following the 20th anniversary of Emma's death, Margaret, 77, has said she can't wait any longer for the truth which she believes many have never wanted to be revealed.
She said: "We been fighting for 20 years for justice for Emma but I will never give up, not now, not tomorrow, not ever. We had some justice with Packer being convicted but there is still a very long tale to be told.
'Packer was given a green light to go on to attack all these women. Why didn't they stop him? What took so long to look at him properly? We also know documents relating to the original case were destroyed or lost.
"Where have they gone and who knew about them? Someone or some people somewhere have wanted certain details to stay hidden for whatever reason.
"We need to know what those reasons are because it left him free to continue his horrific campaign of abuse against so many women. I need this inquiry to go ahead now as I desperately need to know what went wrong. Who decided to look the other way?"
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Evil Packer, 52, was jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of 27-year-old Emma and 32 other charges including 11 rapes and multiple sexual assaults against a total of 22 women in March last year.
The conviction brought to an end one of Scotland's longest cold cases in which a litany of mistakes were made. Packer was interviewed six times by detectives as part of the investigation.
But he was not arrested or charged until 2022, despite admitting he had driven Emma to the remote spot. The Sunday Mail named Packer as the key forgotten suspect in April 2015.
Strathclyde Police had originally investigated Emma's murder and were focused on four Turkish men. However, the case against them collapsed following a £4million investigation.
Crown office officials had then gone to the hospital bed of Margaret's husband William, who was dying from cancer, to tell the family the men were no longer suspects.
Margaret says her husband died not ever knowing what happened to his daughter. Margaret, now a gran of three, said: 'During the trial, Packer sat in that court and said of his police interview, 'They let me go. I could just get up and go home.'
"This guilty man, I want to know who told him to go home that day? The day before my husband died they came to see us and told us there was no prosecution against the Turkish men and it probably wasn't them.
'I remember a member of the police force in that room saying 'yes in their opinion.' My husband died not knowing what happened to his daughter and who was responsible. I believe all of these failures were down to a group of people, not just one person.
'Are there people out there terrified for all this information to finally come out? We need them exposed, we need it all out in the open and the public needs to know how it works.'
Packer was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 36 years in February 2024. A Sunday Mail investigation at the time spoke to current and former sex workers.
They claimed corrupt police were regular clients on the streets of Glasgow around the same time as Packer. The ex-wife of killer Packer also revealed how he throttled her with a cord – nine years before murdering Emma the same way.
She told how police probing Emma's murder in 2005 had failed to act when she told them about their violent relationship in 2007. Margaret said: 'We were naive, we only knew that Emma was on heroin, we had no knowledge she was on the streets.
"These girls, who weren't out there by choice and carry a lot of shame, later bravely stood up in court which must have been hard and opened up their difficult lives to everyone.
"But because of what these vulnerable girls did they were initially ignored. There were so many missed opportunities to save Emma. Unfortunately we can't save her. But we can find out what happened. I loved Emma beyond all measure."
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: 'I announced a Public Inquiry into the investigation of Emma's murder to provide answers for her family and the other victims involved.
"They deserve nothing less.." A spokesperson for the Crown Office said it was 'fully supportive of the inquiry and will contribute as appropriate in due course'.
Police Scotland have since apologised to Emma's family and his other victims for how the original inquiry was handled, saying they were 'let down'.
A Police Scotland spokesperson added: 'We will fully support any further police investigation into the murder of Emma Caldwell and also the work of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to identify an external force to carry out this significant piece of work.'
Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is representing Margaret and her family, demanded those who helped Packer evade justice now be held to account.
He said: 'Emma's family believe it is not only Iain Packer who evaded justice for nearly 19 years, but police officers who betrayed the most fundamental duty of all to protect life.
'Officers stand accused of sabotaging an investigation, persecuting officers who had gone after Packer, spying on journalists, and perpetuating a lie for some 19 years.
'For far too long those responsible for gifting a killer his freedom, have remained in the shadows, now they must face the glare of public scrutiny – the victims of Packer deserve nothing less.
"Over 20 years, first as a lawyer for one of the men falsely accused of Emma's murder and then, the last 10, as Margaret's lawyer, I then saw the devastation wreaked on a mother, but she never gave up, nor will she.
"Whatever the job, addictions or vulnerabilities of Emma Caldwell or the 22 women who gave evidence, it should never have been used as a justification for sexual violence or to treat them as a second-class citizens.
" Emma Caldwell mattered, the women who spoke up mattered, and the many whose voices which were never heard mattered.'
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