Jury goes out to consider verdict in Emma Caldwell murder trial

The jury has gone out to consider its verdict in the trial of the man accused of murdering Emma Caldwell.

Iain Packer, 51, is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of murdering Ms 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.

Among the charges Packer is accused of is one of indecently assaulting Miss Caldwell in the east end of Glasgow in August 2004.

The judge completed his legal directions on Friday morning and the jury retired to consider their verdicts.

The jury had been directed to convict Packer of indecently assaulting her and one other charge.

Judge Lord Beckett instructed jurors they should find Packer guilty of the charge on the indictment after he admitted the offence while giving evidence.

In his second day of evidence, Packer was asked about an indecent assault on Ms Caldwell where she was paid £30 for Packer to perform a sex act on her behind a billboard in the Barras.

A statement given by Packer to police said: “I continued to hold on to her waist. I was saying, ‘we have agreed before we started, I have paid for this’. She managed to pull away and was upset.”

Prosecutor Richard Goddard KC said: “Why did you carry on?”

Packer said: “I have no idea why I carried on. Something that I’m not very happy about, I’m ashamed of.”

Mr Goddard said: “What you did was criminal?”

Packer said: “Yes.”

Mr Goddard said: “You accept your guilt for indecently assaulting Emma Caldwell?”

Packer said: “Yes.”

Mr Goddard said: “You would know if you had indecently assaulted that poor young woman?”

Packer said: “I apologise for that, it’s not something I’m proud of.”

Lord Beckett also directed the jury to convict Packer of a charge accusing him of abducting a woman, preventing her from leaving a house and detaining her against her will.