Iain Packer has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 36 years after being found guilty of the 2005 murder of Emma Caldwell.

Packer, 51, was found guilty of murdering Miss Caldwell, 27, who went missing in Glasgow on April 4, 2005, and whose body was found in Limefield Woods, near Roberton, South Lanarkshire, the following month.

He was also convicted of raping 11 women among dozens of other charges, following a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The same day, it was revealed that Packer has been handed a life sentence. 

During the trial, the court heard a soil sample taken in 2021 from the site where Miss Caldwell’s body was found was a “97% match” with soil found in his blue work van, and Packer was charged by police in February 2022.

Packer denied all the charges – accusing all the women of lying – but admitted during evidence that he indecently assaulted Miss Caldwell.

He said he was “ashamed” of his actions towards her, and described his behaviour towards other sex workers as “disgusting”.

But he denied murdering Miss Caldwell in his evidence, telling the court: “It wasn’t me who killed her. It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything to her.”

The trial heard evidence from multiple women about Packer’s brutal attacks on them.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard KC described Packer as a “violent” and “obsessive” user of sex workers with an “unhealthy addiction” to procuring their services.