Iain Packer found GUILTY of murdering Emma Caldwell in 2005

Iain Packer was today convicted of 33 charges against 22 women during a three-decade reign of physical and sexual violence between 1990 and 2016.

His long list of victims were 16 sex workers, females he lived with, guests at “adult parties” and his first target - a teenage girl he raped at her home.

Lord Beckett told him: “Over more than 25 years you pursued a campaign of appalling sexual mistreatment to a large number of women.

“You have caused great harm to so many people as you indulged your pathologically selfish and brutal sexual desires.”

Jurors heard how the 51-year-old - a violent and habitual user of prostitutes - was "infatuated" with Miss Caldwell.

He picked her up in Glasgow and drove her the 41 miles through quiet country roads to the dark and desolate Limefield Woods in Biggar, South Lanarkshire, on April 5, 2005.

It was there he throttled the defenceless 27-year-old with his hands and a cable, stripped her before dumping her naked body in a ditch deep inside the forest.

A high-profile missing persons hunt was soon sparked to find Miss Caldwell.

Her parents Margaret and William desperately searched Glasgow city centre every day hoping to catch sight of their much-loved daughter.

But, the couple were later hit with devastating news that Miss Caldwell's body had been found by a dog walker on May 8, 2005.

Amid a huge murder inquiry, Packer gave five statements to police between 2005 and 2007.

He initially lied he did not know Miss Caldwell then admitted he did - and also confessed to effectively once raping her as well as taking other sex workers to Limefield.

Soil scrapings taken from his blue work’s van were collected in 2005.

If properly analysed at the time they would have found to have been a 97% match to soil near to where Miss Caldwell’s body had been dumped.

Instead, detectives at the then Strathclyde Police focused on four men linked to a Turkish café in the city's Bridge Street where prostitutes were known to visit.

One of them was one of the final people to contact Miss Caldwell by phone - a 76-second call on the night of April 4.

The men were charged in August 2007 amid claims they had killed Miss Caldwell at the café before disposing of her body at the woods.

But, the Operation Guard probe - estimated to have cost £4million - embarrassingly collapsed after defence lawyers for the four questioned the accuracy of translations of bugged conversations.

It was claimed police tapes had recorded the men discussing the murder in the café.

An officer - of Turkish origin - had alleged the four spoke about the killing and getting rid of the body within a carpet.

But, two other specialists said there was no mention of the murder.

Charges against Huseyin Cobanoglu, Halil Kandil, Abubekir Oncu and Mustafa Soylemez were later dropped.

Packer remained in the public eye over the years amid intense speculation he was the killer.

In 2018, angered at his police statements being leaked to the media, he contacted BBC Scotland investigative journalist Samantha Poling in a bid to "clear his name".

In two interviews, he told a string of lies including having never taken sex workers to the woods - despite admitting to police years earlier he had.

A documentary was broadcast in 2019 - this ended up being pivotal in finally putting Packer in the dock.

Other women who had suffered at his hands through the years also came forward having watched the show.

It all led to Packer being charged in 2022 and appearing in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

After a seven-week trial, the depraved former sign fitter showed little emotion as jurors returned guilty after guilty verdicts.

Emma's sobbing mum as well as a number of survivors who Packer preyed upon were in court to see him sentenced. He will likely die behind bars.

The trial heard how Miss Caldwell along with her sister Karen and brother Jamie had a "happy" upbringing at the family home in Cardross.

She was a quiet, but intelligent girl gaining seven standard grades and four highers at school.

But, she was left devastated and struggling to cope after the tragic death of Karen in 1998.

Her mum told the court: "I think at the time I was so deep in grief that she needed my help, but I was very selfish and I know my family suffered because of that - both my son and Emma."

Miss Caldwell soon got into a relationship with a man who claimed he had something to "help" with her torment.

It turned out to be heroin. Miss Caldwell was soon hooked.

Around 2002, the horse lover had a job at Dumbreck Stables in Glasgow, where she had also been living.

But, she eventually turned to sex work to fund her growing habit.

It was there she unfortunately came into contact with Packer - already an abuser of women who regularly prowled the city centre and Glasgow Green red-light zones.

Those who knew both said he became "obsessed" by Miss Caldwell and would be angry if she went with others.

In August 2004, he picked her up in the East End for sex.

What was initially consensual ended up with Miss Caldwell yelling at him to stop. He eventually did - despite protesting he had "paid" her.

He later accepted during the trial that what he did that day was "criminal".

Before her death, Miss Caldwell had been living at the city's women's Inglefield Hostel in Govanhill.

She still kept up, however, her "weekly routine" of meeting her parents.

Her mum recalled being "overjoyed" when her daughter spoke of going into rehab to beat her demons.

Mrs Caldwell's last meeting with her was on April 3, 2005.

The pair went out to buy flowers and a card for Miss Caldwell's grandmother with a stop off at McDonald's for food.

Mrs Caldwell recalled her daughter being unusually "nervous" before leaving her at the hostel. It is thought Miss Caldwell feared someone was tracking her.

Her mum told jurors: "She was agitated in some way. Normally we would speak in the car for ages...I would normally park wherever there was a space, but she started to want to be dropped off at the door."

Prosecutor Richard Goddard KC said: "You saw Emma going into the hostel waving to you?"

She replied: "Yes, 'bye mum...phone you Monday or Tuesday'."

The advocate depute asked: "Did she phone you Monday or Tuesday?"

The mum replied: "No."

Miss Caldwell left the hostel for the final time on the evening of April 4.

She was then reportedly last spotted between 12.30am and 1.30am in the city's London Road.

Miss Caldwell's parents repeatedly tried calling her over the next few days without success.

The couple never heard from their daughter again.

A large scale missing persons inquiry was initially sparked.

Mrs Caldwell told how her and her husband also joined the hunt desperate to find her.

The pensioner told the trial: “We went out every morning around the area and Glasgow city centre itself.

“We spent hours and hours every day looking for her.

“Sometimes you thought you saw her in the distance, but it was someone else.

“We did not know what else to do.”

On May 8, 2005, dog walker Neil Borland was out walking his black Labrador Gigha in the quiet Limefield Woods.

His pet roamed off into trees - the 54-year-old went after her before making the grim discovery of Miss Caldwell's naked body, face down in a ditch.

Mr Borland spotted what he described as a "garrotte" - a piece of cable - around her neck.

He recalled: "I went back to my car. I was going to phone the police, but, I do not know why, I believed I had not seen what I had seen, so I got my brother in law to double check."

It was concluded that Miss Caldwell had been strangled by hands and/or a ligature.

Packer was one of the many people spoken to by detectives during the initial murder investigation.

He initially claimed not to know Miss Caldwell - but in a later statement in August 2006 confessed that he had lied.

Packer said: "I did know her. I have been with her 10 or 11 times...maybe more, maybe less."

He claimed the last time he had seen her was early 2005.

Packer further told detectives then: "She was one of the prostitutes I specifically looked for when I was trying to pick someone up."

He denied ever taking her outside of Glasgow, asking her to strip or that he had "stalked" her.

There was no blood, fingerprints or other DNA to link Packer to Miss Caldwell.

But, the introduction of soil expert Professor Lorna Dawson - whose evidence previously helped convict serial killer Angus Sinclair - proved crucial in snaring Packer.

She was asked to compare soil taken from Packer's blue works van - the vehicle he had been driving in April 2005 - to samples collected from near to where the body was found.

It was found to be a 97% match - "as good as it gets", prosecutor Mr Goddard claimed.

Packer gave evidence during the trial – his denials generally consisted of the victims having consented to sex, he did not know them or the crimes did not occur.

He initially incriminated the four Turks before cutting it to two of them during the trial.

But, in his closing speech, Mr Goddard said Packer was guilty of a “litany of appalling offences”.

He pointed to 17 different circumstances which pointed to him being the killer – the most “compelling” said to be his choice of Limefield Woods where he took women for sex.

Sentencing, Lord Beckett said Miss Caldwell had been described as having a “heart of gold”.

“You murdered a capable and compassionate and intelligent young woman who had recently expressed an intentional first step from extricating herself from the life that she was living.

“You had already committed a serious sexual crime against her.

“Whether she had threatened to report you to the police or whether you killed her while acting our some evil fantasy, you murdered her in circumstances that must have been truly terrifying.

“She was alone with the man who had already indecent assaulted her in the dark, deprived her of her phone and miles from any help.

“You applied a ligature around her neck perhaps to compel her to undress. You manually strangled her using significant force.

“Had it not been for a dog walker, Miss Caldwell's body may have lay undiscovered for years.

“For years, you lied time and again until you were undone by your arrogance thinking you were in the clear and entitled to compensation from the police who investigated you.”

The judge also paid tribute to Miss Caldwell's mother who was in court to see Packer locked up.

Lord Beckett stated: “The pain she felt on the confirmation that her daughter had been murdered was unimaginable, it still endures, she feels it every day.

“Through her determined and unflinching pursuit of justice of Mrs Caldwell surely influenced the re-awakening of the investigation, which has brought her the justice she and her family sought for her daughter.

“Her campaigning is a living testament to the love for her daughter and the enormity of her loss.”

The judge said the “raw and honest” impact statements he had read from a number of those affected by Packer were “heart rending”, but “the courage and perseverance shown by so many women is truly heart lifting”.

The judge added credit had to be shown to the tireless work by two detective in the investigation between 2005 and 2007 as well as the investigative journalists who probed Packer.