Bid for outside police force to investigate Emma Caldwell inquiry stalls

Efforts to launch an independent investigation into the original police inquiry surrounding the 2005 murder of Emma Caldwell have hit a significant obstacle. Prosecutors tasked with overseeing this inquiry have struggled to find a police force outside Scotland willing to undertake the investigation. Scotland’s Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, had announced two years ago the intention to have an independent body review potential criminal misconduct linked to officers involved in the case, but progress has been hampered.

The Crown Office recently informed BBC Scotland that despite attempts to appoint a police force from England or Wales for the task, no such force has agreed due to the current pressures facing policing across the UK. Iain Packer was ultimately convicted in 2024 for the murder of Emma Caldwell, nearly two decades after he had first come under suspicion. Notably, a BBC Scotland investigation helped trigger renewed attention to the case, and some former detectives alleged they were instructed by senior officials not to pursue Packer as a suspect during the initial inquiry.

On the same day the Crown Office provided this update, Emma Caldwell’s mother, Margaret, alongside other family members, met with Lord Scott, who chairs the ongoing public inquiry into the investigation, in Glasgow. Margaret’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, criticized the delay in the independent probe, calling the situation “absolutely farcical.” He pointed out that the family had communicated their doubts to the solicitor general about successfully securing an external police force to investigate either Strathclyde Police or others involved, adding, “It’s two years now and still no word of it. We know from private discussions with Police Scotland that this is not viable.” Anwar also suggested pausing the police-led investigation until the public inquiry concludes and determines whether any criminal activity occurred.

Margaret Caldwell attended the meeting with her grandson, Stewart McGrory, and her brother, Jim Coyle. Anwar remarked that the family experienced kindness from the judge, who assured them that “Emma’s family will be key participants in the inquiry.” However, the exact implications of this role remain unclear. Anwar emphasized the family’s skepticism toward promises made by powerful individuals in the past, stating, “Many powerful men have made promises to Margaret that have repeatedly been betrayed – the test of this inquiry will be whether it follows the evidence.”

The independent judge-led public inquiry, launched by the Scottish government in March 2024, aims to scrutinize failures in the original police investigation, including decisions made by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The Caldwell family has expressed concern that the inquiry’s terms of reference, which focus on Strathclyde Police, may allow Police Scotland to evade accountability for potential shortcomings after its formation in 2013. Anwar described this possibility as a “travesty of justice” and insisted that the inquiry must examine the roles of both Strathclyde Police and Police Scotland. Highlighting the tenure of Sir Stephen House, who led both forces, Anwar emphasized that many women endured prolonged suffering due to the failure to apprehend Packer promptly. Had the police and Crown done their duties adequately, Packer would have been arrested in 2008 instead of remaining free to commit further offenses until 2022.

Packer was convicted in February 2024 of crimes against 22 women, including 11 rapes. Despite being first questioned by detectives shortly after Emma Caldwell’s body was found, prior complaints about him were overlooked. Instead, the police initially focused on four Turkish men, who were charged in 2007 but later had the case against them collapse in 2008. The investigation went cold until the Lord Advocate ordered its reopening in 2015, the same year a newspaper highlighted Packer as a “forgotten suspect.” Packer reached out to the BBC in 2018, seeking to share his side in an effort to clear his name, but was arrested and charged with the murder in February 2022. During the trial, one of his former partners testified that he appeared “white as a sheet” following his second police interview

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