PRESS RELEASE – 28TH FEBRUARY 2024 – EMMA CALDWELL FAMILY AFTER GUILTY MURDER VERDICT

EMMA CALDWELL MURDER TRIAL

GUILTY OF 33 CHARGES OUT OF 36

GUILTY OF MURDER

Statement at around 4pm on the steps of the High Court- issued by Aamer Anwar solicitor acting on behalf of Margaret Caldwell, Mother of Emma- following the guilty verdict at the Murder Trial

Over the years I have stood on the steps of the High Court and said the ‘dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them’, well Margaret Caldwell, Emma’s mother has more than fulfilled that duty. Emma was a much-loved daughter and sister, and when her life was cruelly taken nearly 19 years ago, her family’s lives were torn apart for ever. The moment Emma went missing, Margaret’s life changed forever, she has thought about her, every minute, of every day.

When William, Emma’s father, died in 2011, he made his wife Margaret promise she would never give up the fight for justice. Many will ask Margaret how she feels following the verdict- she feels no joy, no elation, no closure, the loss of Emma shattered a mother’s soul, but finally the presence of justice allows Margaret to ‘breathe again’.

It is only because of the perseverance of a mother and father, and the many women who so courageously came forward that justice is possible.

Today Margaret Caldwell wishes to honour those women, some of whom were sex workers who spoke up not just for Emma, but for the many unknown victims of Packer, but Margaret also wishes to acknowledge those who have been lost due to illness, overdose and other forms of harm. Those women were a part of our communities, they were important to their loved ones, to their families and friends, and should have been important to the police.

A toxic culture of misogyny and corruption meant the police failed so many women and girls who came forward to speak up against Packer- instead of receiving justice and compassion, they were humiliated, dismissed and in some instances arrested, whilst the police gifted freedom to an evil predator to rape and rape again.

We now know Packer carried out rapes, sexual offences and assaults some 19 times after Emma’s murder in 2005. Margaret believes that officers sabotaged an investigation into Packer for a decade and have blood on their hands, for far too long they have remained in the shadows, but must now answer for their betrayal.

Today Margaret Caldwell calls on the Scottish Government to order an independent judge led public inquiry into what went wrong. The scale of the crimes and the failures are so catastrophic that nothing less than a judicial public inquiry will suffice Neither the Police nor Crown Office can be allowed or trusted to investigate themselves and their former bosses. Margaret, the many women who testified, and the public must have faith that any investigation will be robust and transparent.

Ultimately, Emma’s family placed their trust in the word of the present Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC. Today, Margaret Caldwell is truly grateful to the Lord Advocate for keeping her promise and to Crown Counsel Richard Goddard KC, Cat McQueen and the Crown team including Lynne Reid and Tony Bonnar- the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has today shown itself at its very finest.

Emma’s family also wish to thank Police Scotland’s murder investigation team, including SIOs Davie McLaren and Grahame Mackie who for some 8 years have been unwavering in their commitment and dedication to delivering justice. They are the very best of policing. Margaret is grateful to the Trial Judge Lord Beckett and wishes to personally thank the 15 men and women of the Jury. Today’s Jury, has shown us why they are an essential foundation stone of our justice system, fulfilling one of the most important duties that any citizen can be called on to do.

Margaret is grateful to the legal team at Aamer Anwar & Co., who acted without fear or favour to campaign alongside her for justice. It should be noted that without the work of journalists such as Jim Wilson & Brendan McGinty of the Sunday Mail in 2015, this campaign would never have built the momentum required. Credit is also due to the BBC’s Sam Polling for her work, that gave us more damning evidence against Packer.

Today Police Scotland will finally apologise to Emma Caldwell, her family and many other victims let down by the police in 2005 and in the decade that followed. Police officers stand accused of a shameful betrayal of these women to protect their own careers and of alleged criminality that allowed one of the UK’s worst sex offenders to evade justice for 18 years.

In July 2007, four Turkish men appeared in court, I acted for one of the accused Abubeckir Oncu. In 2007, we were then told this was the most expensive and complex investigations ever- with £4 million spent on accusing four innocent men.

We very quickly discovered that the surveillance conducted over 2005 to 2006 proved absolutely nothing, that the translation was deeply flawed and at times imaginary. We also learned that Iain Packer was interviewed for the sixth time in March 2007 and took officers to the spot where Emma’s body was discovered, telling them he took other women there. Those police officers were told to shut down that line of inquiry and to pursue ‘the Turks’.

For over ten years, the police perpetuated a lie, shutting down an investigation into the real killer, spying on journalists of the Sunday Mail and persecuting detectives who had done their duty in going after Packer. When the case collapsed in 2008 the Police chose not to do anything further, other than maintain the lie to Emma’s parents that the Turkish men were guilty.

In 2016, I was instructed by Emma’s mother Margaret to act on her behalf to help bring her daughter’s killer to justice. No grieving mother should ever be forced to set up a campaign to get justice, let alone a campaign that lasts nearly 19 years. Margaret believes she was betrayed by Strathclyde Police and by Sir Stephen House, and his senior detectives- House was formerly Chief Constable of Strathclyde and Police Scotland and is now Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, presently suspended.

On Stephen House’s watch in 2015, the ‘Counter Corruption Unit’ unlawfully spied on police officers who blamed Iain Packer and tried to uncover the Sunday Mail sources, when the Police should have been more concerned with taking a serial rapist and killer off the streets.

We were told that in May 2016 a third investigation ‘Operation Amonte’ led by a Chief Superintendent, was commissioned to ‘reconcile a range of complaints and allegations received by Police Scotland and legacy forces in connection with the investigation of the murder of Emma.’. The family have no trust in the police or Crown investigating themselves.

In the coming days we will meet with the First Minister, Lord Advocate and Chief Constable. If there is no time limit on justice, then any officers, retired or not, suspected of criminality must be prosecuted and those in our criminal justice system who gave Packer his freedom should finally be held to account.

Whatever a woman’s job, status, addictions or vulnerabilities, it should never be used as a reason to ignore sexual violence or treat them as a second-class citizen. The homicide rate for sex workers in the UK is 12 times higher than for other women and in Glasgow it constitutes the largest single group of unsolved murders.

Emma Caldwell mattered, the 25 women who spoke up mattered, 6 of whom are dead and the many whose voices which were never heard in this court mattered- today we honour all of them.