The family of a murdered sex worker have said police “have blood on their hands” after a man was finally brought to justice despite earlier major investigation failings.
Former sign fitter Iain Packer, 51, was found guilty of what the jury heard was the “execution” of Emma Caldwell.
The 27-year-old, who spiralled into a life of heroin addiction after the sudden death of her sister, was lured from Glasgow’s red-light district, driven to remote woods 40 miles away, strangled and dumped naked in a ditch.
Image: Iain Packer. Pic: BBC
Packer was a habitual user of sex workers in Glasgow in the 1990s – and admitted to police in the initial 2005 investigation that he had previously paid to take Emma to the forest for sex.
He was not arrested or charged for 17 years as officers wrongly focused on a group of Turkish men.
Packer faced 36 charges involving offences against 25 women and denied all the allegations against him in court.
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2:25
‘Police have blood on their hands’
But, following a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow, he was convicted of 11 charges of rape against nine women among dozens of other offences.
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‘Emma Caldwell let down by policing’
In a family statement on behalf of Emma’s mother Margaret, read out on the court steps, the family solicitor Aamer Anwar said: “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, while 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.
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“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.”
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Police interview from arrest of Emma Caldwell’s murderer
The family have called for a public inquiry into failures by the authorities.
The solicitor added: “Whatever a woman’s job, whatever a woman’s status, wherever a woman’s addictions or vulnerabilities, it should never be used as a reason to ignore sexual violence or to treat them as second-class citizens.”
Image: Limefield Woods, where Emma Caldwell was murdered. Pic: PA
Emma’s mother Margaret told Sky News: “I feel as if I can breathe again that this man is gone.
“I hope he gets long enough [in jail] that he cannot harm anyone else.
“I did once ask them [the police] if they were biased because of what Emma did and they said it was like any other case. But they just wanted to get it over, put it in a drawer and forget about it.”
The 76-year-old is still haunted by the moment she learned her daughter had been killed after desperately trying to get her clean from drugs in the weeks before her death.
She said: “It is absolutely devastating. The pain… you felt like someone was punching you in the chest. Someone had actually taken your child’s life. It was awful.
“It is my daughter, and I am going to stand up for her. It didn’t make any difference to me what she did.”
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Ms Caldwell’s mother does not believe Packer will change
A fresh set of cold case detectives re-examined the case in 2015 and they finally began to close in on Packer.
Sky News has learned other sex workers at the time raised concerns that Packer was sexually violent years before Ms Caldwell was killed.
The women, who have now rebuilt their lives, say they were ignored. One survivor was even arrested for prostitution after reporting Packer had attacked her.
They too say police have “blood on their hands” and could have halted Packer in his tracks, blocking him from killing Ms Caldwell.
Asked if she agreed that the former sex workers had come to the right conclusion about the police’s handling of the case, Margaret Caldwell said: “If it’s true that they know about Iain Packer and didn’t arrest him and didn’t deal with him, then yes.
“The first police investigation had gone wrong. I think they knew who it was quite early on in the investigation. And then it was shelved and nothing else was done about it.”
Image: Pic: Family photo
Margaret’s husband died from cancer before seeing justice for his daughter. He urged his loved ones to get to the truth in the moments before his death.
“I go on for Emma and my husband because he asked me to. They would both be urging me on and saying: ‘Well done mum’,” Margaret Caldwell said.
The family and their legal team are now pushing for the police officers involved in their original botched investigation to be brought back and questioned as part of an inquiry.
Image: Pic: Family photo
Following Packer’s conviction, Police Scotland issued an apology.
Assistant chief constable for major crime and public protection Bex Smith said: “Emma Caldwell, her family and many other victims, were let down by policing in 2005. For that we are sorry.
“A significant number of women and girls who showed remarkable courage to speak up at that time also did not get the justice and support they needed and deserved from Strathclyde Police.
“Police Scotland launched a reinvestigation of the case in 2015 after instruction from the Lord Advocate.
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‘Extraordinary campaign of sexual violence’
“It is clear that further investigations should have been carried out into Emma’s murder following the initial enquiry in 2005.
“The lack of investigation until 2015 caused unnecessary distress to her family and all those women who had come forward to report sexual violence.
“It is the courage, resilience and determination shown by Emma’s family, in particular her parents William and Margaret, and all those who survived Iain Packer’s horrific catalogue of offending that got us to where we are today.
“William is, sadly, no longer here to see this day, but I hope this verdict gives Margaret and all those affected by this case, the justice they deserve.”
Image: Packer’s mugshot. Pic: Police Scotland
ACC Smith said the reinvestigation was “without doubt the largest police enquiry of recent times in Scotland”.
More than 30,000 documents and statements were gathered and reviewed along with over 23,000 productions.
New forensic tests were carried out and new witnesses were identified and interviewed.
Image: Packer’s van. Pic: Police Scotland
Image: Pic: Police Scotland
Image: Pic: Police Scotland
ACC Smith added: “We have reflected and learnt from the initial investigation and subsequent reinvestigation.
“Significant changes have been made in recent years to improve our organisational culture and our response, particularly in respect of investigative structures, victim care and processes to these types of crimes.
“Our Violence against Women and Girls Strategy demonstrates our absolute commitment to tackling the violence and abuse that disproportionately affects women and girls.
“What shone through to the enquiry team throughout the investigations into Emma’s life was her gentle personality, and I want to finish by saying that our thoughts remain with Emma, her family and all those affected by this terrible case.”
Radicalised nine-year-olds, teenagers mixing incel culture with extreme right ideologies and a Muslim who idolises Hitler – this is just some of the casework of those tasked with deradicalising young extremists in the UK.
Monday will mark 20 years since the 7/7 attacks on the London transport network when four suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 770 others.
A year later the government set up its deradicalisation programme Prevent as part of its counter-terrorism strategy.
Sky News has spoken to two leading intervention providers (IPs) at Prevent who both say their work is getting ever more complex and the referrals younger.
The Metropolitan Police’s Prevent co-ordinator, Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan, has also told Sky News it is “tragic” that when it comes to terrorism, “one in five of all our arrests is a child under 17”.
She believes parents should talk to their children about what they are reading and seeing online.
“Parents instinctively know when something doesn’t feel right when their child is becoming withdrawn or isolated – not wanting to engage,” she says.
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People worried that someone they know has thoughts that could lead to terrorism can refer them to Prevent.
Image: File pic: iStock
‘A pic-n-mix of ideologies’
Home Office figures show 11-year-olds are the largest age group to get referred.
Concerning cases are passed on to IPs such as Nigel Bromage who told Sky News: “Often there will be a pic-n-mix of ideologies.
“From my own examples and experience, we are aware of people looking at the incel culture and mixing that with some far-right elements.”
Image: Sky’s Jason Farrell with intervention provider Nigel Bromage, who was exposed to extremism when he was a child
Incels, meaning “involuntary celibates” are men who have been unable to have a relationship with women despite wanting one and become misogynistic and hateful as a result.
Like many IPs, Mr Bromage from Birmingham comes from an extremist background himself, having once been a regional organiser for the proscribed Neo-Nazi group Combat 18.
For him too, it began as a child.
“It all started with someone giving me a leaflet outside my school gates,” Mr Bromage says.
“It told me a horrific story about a mum getting killed by an IRA bomb explosion – and at the end of the leaflet there was a call to action which said: ‘If you think it’s wrong then do something about it’.”
He developed a hatred for Irish republican terrorism which morphed into general racism and national socialism.
“At the very end I thought I was going to go to prison, or I would end up being hurt or even killed because of my political beliefs,” he says.
Image: Mr Bromage says his youngest case involved a nine-year-old
Boy, 9, groomed by his brother
Mr Bromage reveals his youngest case was a nine-year-old who had been groomed by his brother.
“He was being shown pro-Nazi video games, and his older brother was saying ‘when I go to prison or I get in trouble – they you’re the next generation – you’re the one who needs to continue the fight’,” he says.
“Really, he had no interest in the racist games – he just wanted to impress his brother and be loved by his brother.”
Every year, nearly 300 children who are 10 or younger are referred to Prevent.
Home Office figures show that over the last six years 50% of referrals were children under the age of 18.
Eleven-year-olds alone make up a third of total referrals, averaging just over 2,000 a year, with the figure rising even higher in the most recent stats.
Another IP, Abdul Ahad, specialises in Islamic extremism.
He says the catalyst for radicalisation often comes from events aboard.
Ten years ago, it was Syria, more recently Gaza.
“It is often a misplaced desire to do something effective – to matter, to make a difference. It gives them purpose, camaraderie and belonging as well – you feel part of something bigger than you,” he says.
Image: Fifty-two people were killed on 7 July 2005 when four suicide bombers blew up three London Underground trains and a bus. Pic: PA
Clients want someone to ‘hear them’
Some of his clients “don’t fit into any particular box”.
“I’m working with a guy at the minute, he’s a young Muslim but he idolises Hitler and he’s written a manifesto,” he says.
“When you break it down, some people don’t know where they fit in, but they want to fit in somewhere.”
Mr Ahad says the young individual mostly admires Hitler’s “strength” rather than his ideologies and that he was drawn to darker characters in history.
Often his clients are very isolated and just want someone to “hear them”, he adds.
Image: Intervention provider Abdul Ahad specialises in Islamic extremism
Mr Ahad is also an imam who preaches at the Al-Azar Mosque in South Shields, a well-regarded centre for community cohesion and outreach.
He uses his understanding of the Islamic faith in his Prevent sessions to help guide his referrals away from extreme interpretations of the Koran by offering “understanding and context”.
He says: “We quote the correct religious texts – we explain their responsibility as a Muslim living in the UK and we re-direct their energies into something more constructive.”
Common theme of mental health issues
Mental health problems are a common theme among those referred to Prevent including depression and autism.
Her mother was critical of Prevent, as well as the police and MI5 after she had referred her daughter to the deradicalisation programme and Rhianan was subsequently charged with terrorism offences.
Last month a coroner found some failings in the processes around protecting Rhianan, but none of them attributable to Rhianan taking her own life.
Det Supt Corrigan says a referral doesn’t mean individuals end up being arrested or on an MI5 watchlist.
She says: “You’re not reporting a crime, but you are seeking support. I would say the earlier you can come in and talk to us about the concerns you have the better. Prevent is just that – it is a pre-criminal space.
“It’s tragic when you see the number of young people being arrested for very serious charges. Just look at terrorism – one in five of all our arrests is a child under the age of 17. We need to think about how we respond to that.”
Prevent has been criticised for failures such as when Southport killer Axel Rudakabana failed to be recognised as needing intervention despite three referrals, or when MP David Amiss’ killer Ali Harbi Ali went through the programme and killed anyway.
Image: Axel Rudakubana failed to be recognised as needing intervention despite three referrals. Pic: Merseyside police
It’s harder to quantify its successes.
Mr Ahad says he understands why the failures hit the headlines, but he believes the programme is saving lives.
He says: “I think the vast majority of people get radicalised online because they are sitting in their room reading all this content without any context or scholarly input. They see one version of events and they get so far down the rabbit hole they can’t pull themselves out.
“I really wish Prevent was around when I was a young, lost 15-year-old because there was nothing around then. It’s about listening to people engaging with them and offering them a way of getting out of that extremism.”
Image: File pic: iStock
‘Radicalisation can happen in days to weeks’
Det Supt Corrigan says: “I’ve sat with parents whose children have gone on to commit the most horrendous crimes and they all spotted something.
“Now, with hindsight, they wished they had done something or acted early. That’s why we created this programme, because radicalisation can happen in days to weeks.”
Twenty years on from 7/7 the shape of the terrorist threat has shifted, the thoughts behind it harder to categorise, but it is no less dangerous.
Image: Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk. Pic: Reuters
Image: Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo (right) arrive at the funeral of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva. Pic: PA
Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.
His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.
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Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.
Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.
Image: Manchester United and Portugal player Bruno Fernandes. Pic: PA
Image: Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool’s player Andrew Robertson. Pic: Reuters
Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.
Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.
‘More than a friend’
In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”
Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”
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Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.
‘With us forever’
Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.
“Their spirit will be with us forever.”
The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.
He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.
“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”
The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.
No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.
Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.
Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.
MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.
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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma
In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.
“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.
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“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.
“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.
The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.
“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”
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“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”