A man has been jailed for life after murdering sex worker Emma Caldwell, indecently assaulting her and carrying out a string of sex attacks on multiple other women.
Ian Packer was also convicted of raping 11 women among dozens of other charges.
Miss Caldwell, 27, vanished in April 2005 and her body was found in Limefield Woods, near Roberton, South Lanarkshire, the following month.
Packer was convicted on Wednesday following a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow and jailed for life, to serve a minimum term of 36 years.
It is thought to be the second-longest jail sentence in Scottish legal history.
During the trial, jurors heard evidence from witnesses whom Packer is alleged to have raped, assaulted, sexually and indecently assaulted, as well as police officers involved in the investigation and forensic experts.
Packer, who had denied the charges, also gave evidence in his own defence.
Miss Caldwell disappeared days after telling her mother Margaret about her hopes to kick a heroin addiction, which began following a family bereavement in her early 20s.
She came from a close-knit family and saw both parents twice a week and spoke to them daily, and was reported missing after she failed to respond to attempts by them to change a planned meeting.
A dog walker found Miss Caldwell’s body in woodland, with a “garotte” around her neck, on May 8, 2005.
During Packer’s 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 accused all the women of lying but then admitted during evidence that he indecently assaulted Miss Caldwell.
He said he was “ashamed” of his actions towards her, and described his behaviour towards another 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.
Following Packer’s guilty verdict, Police Scotland apologised for its handling of the initial investigation.
Other women had raised concerns about Packer’s behaviour towards the police after Miss Caldwell’s death, but he was not arrested or charged for 17 years.
Instead, the police wrongly focused on a group of Turkish men until the case was re-examined by a team of cold case detectives.
Issuing 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.”
