Justice for Emma Caldwell

I know. If she was a shop assistant or a librarian, it wouldn't feature would it?

Prurient news agenda. Listening to the BBC Jack the ripper podcast which is about the women, rather than him - its the same old, same old. Vulnerable women - and its their work that hits the headlines.

This must have been so traumatic for all those women who weren't listened to and Emma's family. My heart goes out to them and it makes me angry that justice has taken so long. And I find it deeply ironic that The Guardian has published these words about the case:

...what became all too apparent were the devastating consequences when the authorities do not take seriously women and girls who report sexual crimes...

I plan on pushing my MSPs on this.
On the failures of the past but also on how are they going to.prioritise women involved.

It’s not work. It’s just the horrible thing you have to do

it’s not work

I think so

and despite Sandy Brindley from women’s aid calling for sex workers to come forward. You might note that Emma’s mum never called her a sex worker
the women that were raped and assaulted were just that. Women

Watching the disclosure programme on it being shown on bbc2.

Packer was named by senior detectives but they all got moved off the case when he was named. High level cover up?

Joan did. Took so long to get justice for Emma and the other women.

Joan McAlpine wrote about the Police Scotland cover up 9 years ago -

https://twitter.com/JoanMcAlpine/status/1762973696057028687

I'm glad that there's finally been justice for Emma.

1000 statements not followed up.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cold-case-cops-probe-unsolved-13034266
Emma and the 27 women involved in this trial are the tip of an iceberg.
i do hope that this is pushed and pushed so those who made decisions to not proceed, for whatever reasons, are held accountable.

Sex worker is how many newspapers have called her.

she was Emma who was murdered by a pervert.

and then many women assaulted by this man

thanks Strathclyde police and police Scotland.

you give no fucks about women. You are and were corrupt still

say women do amazing work with young women - lots of different elements to their support.

@ithinkitsdone every article just keeps saying 'the sex worker'. It's horrible. Like what's that got to do with anything

Emma would never have called herself that and neither would alot of the other women involved.

The article did make it sound like someone was protecting Parker.

As an aside, I was curious on the comments about the sentencing, i.e. that he has the second longest term imposed by a Scottish Court (36 yrs) - the longest is Angus Sinclair, at 37 years for the Worlds End murders. I'd have thought Peter Tobin would be up there, but it turns out that although he eventually got a whole life order this was set by an English court in Chelmsford, and whole life orders don't exist in Scotland.

I do wish they would stop referring to her as a sex worker. Yes she was but she was also a woman. A daughter and a sister and a friend.

i think Routes Out offers direct support to women and they do outreach with women in street prostitution. they might be an option?

sadly in truth - i think not.

no clarity, no plan, no buy in, no consultation, no resources.
same old, same old.

Women in prostitution are yet again pushed to the edges. There's far too many women like Emma still in the same situation she was.

i came in to start a thread and was pleased to see one.

Glad that Emma and her family got justice but her parents should not have had to fight and push as they did to make sure their daughter was not forgotten. It has taken far too long and i hope today can bring them some peace.

This is a huge miscarriage of justice for so many women.

There was over 20 brave women giving evidence and thanks to them, Packer is now facing a very lengthy sentence. there are many many more who were not part of this trial.

What happened to all those women was appalling and they were ignored, allowing his (and others) violence to continue. its fine for Police Scotland to say sorry but in reality, things havent improved that much. Sandy can say that things have got somewhat better but that is a general statement and does not apply to women in prostitution.

Women are not coming forward and reporting violence so theres alot of men out there committing violence every day, unchecked and unaccountable.

Prostitution related offenses fell by 87% from 2013 to 2023. Women in street prostitution, like Emma, are still criminalised albeit in smaller numbers. The big fall also relates to punters like Ian Packer, who are still out in numbers looking for vulnerable women. It also relates to all offenses such as pimping and brothel keeping.
Police Scotland have nothing to pat themselves on the back for in terms of how much better things are.

I’m so pleased justice has finally come for Emma. I hope she can now rest in peace & her mother can now rest.

Well done all those strong and brave women.

Good result.

The police handling of this case has shown to be shocking.

His eyes - just dead in those videos and photos - nothing going on behind there. Nothing good anyway.

Glad he's now locked up. Travesty it took so long.