How I confronted Emma Caldwell’s killer
“It’s about time, I thought, to give my own side to what’s happened.”
That is what Iain Packer told BBC investigative reporter Sam Poling during their first interview in November 2018.
He had approached Ms Poling after she had filmed a documentary about Police Scotland.
Packer had been described in the press as a “forgotten suspect” in the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005.
Her body was found in remote woods, near Biggar, South Lanarkshire, five weeks after she was last seen alive in Glasgow city centre.
Packer said he wanted to clear his name, so agreed to be interviewed twice on camera by Ms Poling for a documentary about Emma’s murder.
During those interviews he said he was "not a violent person" – but Packer was later arrested and charged with the murder of Emma, who had been working as a sex worker in Glasgow.
His trial began in January 2024. Sam Poling was cited as a witness, and clips from the interviews she conducted with him were shown to the jury.
Iain Packer was found guilty of murdering Emma Caldwell.
Reporter: Samantha Poling, assistant producer: Anton Ferrie.
Digital video produced and edited by Zara Weir, filmed by Paul Riley.
You can watch Catching a Killer: The Murder of Emma Caldwell on iPlayer now. It will be shown on BBC Scotland on Wednesday at 21:00 and later on BBC Two at 23:15.
You can listen to the podcast series Who Killed Emma? on BBC Sounds.
