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No evidence links murder accused to Caldwell on night she vanished, trial told

Iain Packer, 51, denies all the charges against him at the High Court in Glasgow.

Lauren Gilmour
Wednesday 21 February 2024 09:38 EST
Emma Caldwell died in 2005 (family handout/PA)
Emma Caldwell died in 2005 (family handout/PA) (PA Media)

The lawyer defending a man accused of murdering Emma Caldwell has told jurors there is not ā€œone pieceā€ of evidence linking the two the night she went missing.

Iain Packer, 51, is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow, accused of murdering Miss Caldwell, 27, who vanished in Glasgow on April 4 2005 and whose body was found in Limefield Woods, near Roberton, South Lanarkshire, the following month.

He faces a total of 36 charges involving offences against 25 women, all of which he denies.

Defending, Ronnie Renucci KC told jurors on Wednesday that Packer is ā€œprepared to accept responsibility for his actionsā€ and is ā€œnot trying to hide the factā€ he went to Limefield Woods with sex workers.

Mr Renucci asked jurors: ā€œIf Iain Packer was responsible for her death, was he really going to be so stupid as to dump her body there and leave it to be found?ā€

He said there was no phone communication between Packer and Miss Caldwell on April 4, 2005.

There is nothing to place Iain Packer at the scene. No DNA, no bodily fluids, nothing

Ronnie Renucci KC, defending Packer

He pointed to a phone call that named person Abubekir Oncu made to Miss Caldwell at around 11.20pm that day.

Mr Renucci said: ā€œWhatever way you want to dress it, there is no evidence of any communication between Iain Packer and Emma Caldwell that night.ā€

He said there is ā€œnot one piece of evidenceā€ showing Packer was in the area of Glasgowā€™s red light district known as the drag the night Miss Caldwell was last seen.

Mr Renucci said: ā€œIf there is one person who was not a stranger to the red light district, that was Iain Packer.

ā€œThere is nothing to place Iain Packer at the scene. No DNA, no bodily fluids, nothing.

ā€œThere is no other evidence to suggest Iain Packer was anywhere near the city centre that night.ā€

Mr Renucci appeared to suggest that had Packer been in the red light district on the evening of April 4, 2005, he would have been spotted, adding: ā€œWe are not talking about a nondescript car here. There is only one van with all that signage and that is (Packerā€™s) blue van.ā€

He said there is ā€œno CCTV footage whatsoeverā€ and no evidence of any sightings of Packer that night.

Miss Caldwellā€™s body was found in Limefield Woods on May 8, 2005 but Mr Renucci said there was no DNA evidence.

He said: ā€œThere was no DNA, no blood, no fibres, no fingerprints, no bodily fluids linking him to her death.ā€

The defence lawyer told jurors to disregard evidence that Packer had lied to police and to BBC journalist Samantha Polling.

He said: ā€œIain Packer lied to police and lied about knowing Emma Caldwell.

ā€œSo what? He accepts he lied about that. He didnā€™t want to be charged with something he didnā€™t do.

ā€œMr Packer lied to her (Ms Polling). So what? He has not been the only person to tell lies in this case.ā€

Mr Renucci told jurors Packer had contacted Ms Polling because he had concerns about the way he was portrayed in the media and in the press ā€œout of desperationā€.

He added: ā€œHe was trying to clear his name when he lied to her. It didnā€™t change anything he said to the police.

ā€œIt is easy to make Iain Packer the bogeyman in all of this.

ā€œBut you must step back and think objectively.

ā€œIf he is this person (who murdered Emma Caldwell), how on Earth did he get away with it for all these years right under the noses of the police?

ā€œThe truth is, I would suggest, it is not him.

ā€œThis is not television, you have got one chance to make the right decision. You cannot come back next week and have another go.ā€

Mr Renucci insisted there is ā€œreasonable doubtā€ that Packer is guilty of many of the 36 offences he is charged, claiming there have been inconsistencies in witness evidence.

Ending his speech, Mr Renucci urged jurors not to convict Packer of the murder of Miss Caldwell.

But earlier, prosecutor Richard Goddard KC told jurors in his closing speech that Miss Caldwellā€™s murder was the ā€œmost horrifying chapterā€ in an ā€œappalling course of sexual violenceā€ by Packer over two decades.

He urged jurors to convict on all charges, and outlined evidence which he said enabled this.

This included analysis of soil taken from Packerā€™s vehicle and the site where Miss Caldwellā€™s body was found, which Mr Goddard said was the ā€œmost damningā€ evidence against the accused.

Forensic scientist Lorna Dawson previously told the trial that samples taken from Limefield Woods and samples taken from Packerā€™s van had a 97% rate of accuracy for a match.

Closing speeches for the Crown and the defence have been completed and jurors will receive legal directions from judge Lord Beckett before retiring to consider their verdicts.

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