Trial drew attention to violence faced by sex workers in city, where the cases of four women killed in s remain unresolved. Police Scotland is examining several unsolved murders of women in Glasgow after the trial of the serial rapist and killer Iain Packer highlighted the horrific levels of violence facing sex workers in the city.
Packer was sentenced to at least 36 years in prison last Wednesday for the murder of Emma Caldwell in and a catalogue of other sexual and violent offences, including 11 rapes. Six women were murdered in Glasgow between and , fuelling fears that a serial killer was targeting sex workers in the city, and four remain unresolved three decades later. With the Packer case bringing public attention to the violence faced by sex workers, he added that even before the Packer verdict the team with responsibility for cold cases was considering options.
I can tell you that recently, even before the verdict of the Emma Caldwell trial, we were in discussions with some of those cases to see what we could do. Of those six women who died, the killer of only one โ Margo Lafferty, who was murdered in โ was successfully prosecuted at the time. Two people were arrested in relation to the murder of Diane McInally, in , but nobody was ever charged. In the murder of Karen McGregor, in , a man, who has since died, stood trial, but the charges were found not proven at court.
A year-old man who stood trial for the murder of Leona McGovern was found not guilty. In the case of Jacqueline Gallagher, killed in , a year-old man stood trial, but the murder charge was found not proven.
In Scotland, since , there have been narrow exceptions to the rule that it is not possible to try an individual twice for the same crime. Iain Packer was jailed last week for the murder of Emma Caldwell. This article is more than 11 months old.
