Iain Packer was left free to continue attacking women while senior officers pursued a case against four Turkish men.
Police missed the chance to catch Emma Caldwell's killer in the months after her murder because senior officers repeatedly dismissed him as a suspect, BBC Scotland can reveal.
Emma's naked body was found in Limefield Woods, 40 miles south-east of Glasgow, on 8 May 2005. The 27-year-old sex worker had last been seen in the city centre more than a month earlier. Police finally asked Pauline to show them the location six months after she gave that statement. She took them to the exact woods where Emma's body was found.Retired detective Stuart Hall said he was told he could not detain Packer in the early stages of the inquiry.
When Det Con David Barr, taking the statement, asked senior officers if he could detain Packer, he was also told no. "Anything else that we suspected had happened to Emma involving any other men, forget about it - these were the men that had done it."Conversations taped as part of the covert surveillance operation formed the basis for the case against them.
"Over seven years, a full review of the original inquiry by Strathclyde Police in 2005 was completed.Emma Caldwell's murder remained unsolved. Even after police were ordered to reopen the investigation in May 2015, they did not look into Packer.
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