Emma Caldwell murder accused ‘knew he was being found out’, witness tells trial

Iain Packer is on trial accused of killing Emma Caldwell in 2005. He has denied her murder and 45 other charges. Photo: Family Handout/PA Wire

A witness has told a murder trial “it was written all over his face that he was being found out” after the accused turned “white” following an interview.

Iain Packer, 50, is on trial accused of murdering sex worker Emma Caldwell, 27, in 2005, and faces 46 charges including rape as well as abduction and assault.

He denies all the charges against him, and has lodged special defences of incrimination, consent, defence of another and self-defence.

Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, a witness said Packer appeared “white as a sheet” and claimed he was being “blamed”, after giving an interview to the BBC about Ms Caldwell’s death.

The woman, who met Packer in 2012, told the court she helped him arrange media interviews with BBC journalist Sam Poling in 2018 and 2019.

After the second interview, which lasted between 15 and 20 minutes, Packer told the woman, “they keep asking me the same questions again and again”, she said.

The woman, 49, said: “His whole face was grey, he was white as a sheet. Something bad had gone on.

“He said, ‘they’re blaming me for Emma’.

“It was as if it was all closing in on him.”

She added: “It was written all over his face that he was being found out.”

The witness said Packer’s version of events regarding his whereabouts on the night of Miss Caldwell’s murder changed from initially claiming he was at home, to later claiming he was working in Aberdeen.

She said: “He was pretty convincing. There was a discussion with his parents, with me there. They couldn’t prove it – was the words.”

Under cross-examination from advocate depute Richard Goddard, the woman said she asked to see records from the family business, which Packer worked for, but they had been destroyed.

Packer is accused of strangling Miss Caldwell with his hands and a cable, assaulting her, compressing her wrists, intending to rape her and murdering her at an area of woodland known as Limefield woods in South Lanarkshire on April 5 2005.

He is further charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by allegedly disposing of Miss Caldwell’s body, her mobile phone, clothing and personal belongings, as well as cleaning the interior of a car which belonged to him.

He denies the charges and has lodged a special defence of incrimination.

Another witness told the trial Packer attacked her at a sex party where he was working as security.

The woman, now aged 32, claimed Packer grabbed her breast and tried to put it in his mouth, and attempted to put his hand in her underwear, at the party in Glasgow on May 14 2016.

She claimed that a female friend alleged Packer had touched her intimately without her consent while she smoked a cigarette, and then tried to force himself in her mouth.

The witness said consent was central to the party and, she was so worried, she contacted the organiser to say she felt it was not safe for Packer to work there.

She said after Packer allegedly assaulted her, she found her boyfriend and went to get her friend to get a taxi home, before her friend disclosed she had also been attacked.

The witness said: “I had got my nipple pierced and he asked to see it. I think he tried to put his mouth on it. He put his hand up the front of my dress and kind of over my underwear.”

She said her friend went “chalk white” after the disclosure, and was “distraught” as she alleged Packer had touched her intimately as she leant back against a wall, the court heard.

The witness said: “We didn’t think it was safe for him to be there, to work as security anymore.”

She said her friend was so upset she was unable to speak as she attempted to communicate the alleged abuse, and the group decided to contact organisers to raise concerns about Packer.

The witness said: “When I’d said that to her, she burst out crying, her reaction was she couldn’t speak and was sobbing, she couldn’t tell us.”

She told the court Packer never sought consent before touching her.

She added: “He’s supposed to look after us.”

The woman’s partner gave evidence and said their friend told them “she wanted to leave”, the court heard.

The man said: “While she was in the smoking area, Mr Packer approached her, I believe she said he succeeded in putting his hand between her legs.

“She was very upset, crying.”

They then met the organiser the following evening to discuss what had happened.

Defending Packer, Ronnie Renucci said: “Mr Packer had been off duty for about an hour, that might have been why you saw him with a bottle of whisky in his hand.”

Packer has lodged two additional special defences, citing consent, to two charges.

The trial continues in front of Judge Lord Beckett.