Emma Caldwell murder: Humza Yousaf says judge-led public inquiry into police mishandling 'firmly on the table'

Iain Packer, 51, was on Wednesday sentenced to a minimum 36 years in prison for Miss Caldwell’s murder back in 2005. He was also found guilty of 32 other charges against 22 women, including 11 rapes and multiple sexual assaults.

It is the second-longest sentence ever handed out in Scottish legal history, with Judge Lord Beckett saying Packer was responsible for an “extreme campaign of sexual violence” and caused “extreme and enduring suffering for so many women and their families”.

Serious questions are now being raised about how police initially handled the murder investigation and allowed Packer to remain free for 19 years, despite being identified as a suspect in 2006.

Police Scotland had apologised to Miss Caldwell’s family immediately after the verdict, as well as the “many other victims”, admitting they were all “let down by policing in 2005”.

Mr Yousaf confirmed he had written to mother Margaret Caldwell offering to meet with both her and her lawyer Aamer Anwar. A Scottish Government spokesman later told journalists it was hoped the meeting would happen as soon as next week.

During First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) on Thursday, Mr Yousaf said: “There is still an ongoing legal process and Iain Packer has the right to appeal. But a judge-led public inquiry is something we are exploring and it is not off the table.”

He later changed his wording to say a public inquiry was “very firmly on the table”.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross branded the case “one of Scotland’s worst policing scandals” and said it was shocking the police had launched a surveillance operation targeting journalists and whistleblowers who revealed Packer was a suspect.

He pressed the First Minister to agree to an independent, judge-led public inquiry, and said whoever heads it up must come from outside Scotland.

This comes after Margaret Caldwell told the party the Scottish Government had “no option” but to immediately open a public inquiry.

Ms Caldwell said in a statement: “They knew it was Iain Packer as far back as 2006, but they gave him the freedom to carry on attacking and raping vulnerable women like my Emma. If [Humza] Yousaf genuinely cares about victims and my Emma, then he has no other option but to organise an independent public inquiry.

“For far too long those in the police or Crown who failed us have remained in the shadows. Only a judge-led public inquiry will reveal the corruption, the criminality and the motivation.”

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Mr Ross and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar both used FMQs to call on Mr Yousaf to open up an inquiry.

Mr Ross said: “Many questions remain about this shameful saga, which can only be answered by a fearless and transparent inquiry. Why did it take so long to charge Packer? Why was he free to attack more women? Who was responsible for allowing him to walk free?

“An inquiry led by a judge from outside Scotland is necessary because these were not mere accidents by Police Scotland and the Crown Office. It seems evidence was deliberately ignored and suppressed.”

Mr Sarwar said there was a “toxic culture of misogyny” in the handling of this case, including “prejudice and a failure to listen to women”.

Mr Yousaf accepted the victims of Packer, who was first interviewed by police the month after Miss Caldwell’s body was found, and who repeatedly lied to investigators, were “ultimately let down” by police.

He said: “Looking back at the history of the case, it is astonishing some of the allegations made in relation to Police Scotland.

“There are many questions to answer as to why Iain Packer evaded justice for so long and we are seriously considering all the options on the table, including a judge–led public inquiry, and the suggestion from Douglas Ross that the judge should be from outside of Scotland.”

The First Minister said he agreed with Mr Sarwar on many points, saying: “We still in Scotland have a serious problem with misogyny. And I know there’s a lot of cross-party consensus around some of the actions that the Scottish Government is taking forward to tackle violence against women and girls.”

Mr Anwar said the family would “accept nothing less than the truth, transparency and accountability” and called for a judge-led public inquiry.

He said the Crown Office should make a commitment to Mrs Caldwell and the many women to hold an inquiry rather than a review.

“This is not simply a case of the police just saying sorry in the belief they can move on as it was all about 2005 – the reality is that for over a decade the police engaged in a concerted cover-up, followed by Police Scotland carrying out unlawful spying on Sunday Mail journalists and police officers who had identified Iain Packer as the murderer,” he said.

“In that whole period the Crown ordered no further investigation into the killer or the police – it must beg the question why? What were they trying to hide?

“The scale of the crimes and the failures are so catastrophic and vast that nothing less than a robust judicial public inquiry will suffice – she welcomes the comments of the First Minister but for her, time is of the essence.

“Neither the Police nor Crown Office, nor anyone connected to the police, can be allowed or trusted to investigate themselves and their former bosses.”

Mr Anwar said he would meet Mr Yousaf, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain and Chief Constable of Police Scotland Jo Farrell to demand a public inquiry.

Calum Steele, who retired as Scottish Police Federation general secretary last year, meanwhile said he fears the force would act the same way and “look for its own reputation first” following criticism over its handling of the murder case.

Police Scotland had launched a re-investigation of the case in 2015 following instruction from the Lord Advocate.

Mr Steele said that following a Sunday Mail newspaper story that branded Packer “the forgotten suspect” in 2015, police had failed to “concentrate wholly and exclusively on the reinvestigation of the murder” and had instead focused on finding journalistic sources quoted in the article.

He told the BBC that he briefed former first minister Nicola Sturgeon about the situation and described it as “potentially one of the biggest scandals that was taking place in Scottish policing.”

Mr Steele said there was a parliamentary inquiry into the activities of the counter corruption unit, as it was then, and three separate police inquiries involving different police forces into the activities of the police service.

However, he said: “I fear, though, that despite those activities, and despite those investigations, that the police service even today would undertake the exact same thing. It would look for its own reputation first rather than deal with the severity of the issues that were before it.”

The former union official added: “The probability is that Iain Packer should have been convicted a long time ago, at the time of Strathclyde Police, had senior officers undertaken their duties properly, had they acted with all of the responsibilities that the office of constable bestows upon them and had they listened to the evidence that was being presented to them by junior colleagues that were involved in the investigation.”