Emma Caldwell was a 27-year-old sex worker who disappeared from Glasgow on April 4, 2005. Her body was discovered five weeks later in remote woodland near Biggar, South Lanarkshire. The case remained unsolved for years before Iain Packer was eventually convicted of her murder in 2024.
Packer was also found guilty of multiple sexual offences against other women spanning years, in what prosecutors described as a prolonged pattern of abuse.
The Emma Caldwell case returned to public attention following renewed investigations and media scrutiny that exposed major failings in the original police inquiry. Former detectives have said early warnings about Packer’s behavior were not properly acted upon, and the investigation initially pursued other suspects instead.
Police Scotland later acknowledged these failings and issued an apology to Caldwell’s family and other victims.
He approached a BBC journalist to clear his name
In 2018, Iain Packer contacted BBC journalist Sam Poling after watching her documentary on policing failures in Scotland. He said he wanted to address media coverage and clear his name.
He agreed to be interviewed on camera for a documentary focused on Emma Caldwell’s murder.
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During those interviews, Packer claimed he was “not a violent person”. However, he was later arrested and charged with Caldwell’s murder.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that contradicted parts of his account, including his movements with sex workers outside Glasgow.
Conviction and sentence
In February 2024, Packer was convicted of Emma Caldwell’s murder along with dozens of other serious offences, including multiple rapes and sexual assaults against 22 women.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 36 years, backdated to February 2022. His attempt to challenge the sentence was rejected by the High Court of Justiciary, leaving the original punishment in place.
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Where is Iain Packer now?
Iain Packer is currently serving his life sentence in prison in Scotland. He will remain incarcerated for decades before he is eligible to be considered for parole, following one of the country’s most significant sexual violence convictions in recent years.
The case has been revisited in the documentary Did You Kill Emma?, which explores the investigation into Emma Caldwell’s murder and the failures that allowed Packer’s crimes to go unchecked for years. The series focuses on the journalists and investigators who helped bring new attention to the case.