Emma Caldwell murderer’s new prison mate Iain Packer is a twisted beast who raped OAP

Emma Caldwell’s killer Iain Packer befriended a depraved sex offender behind bars who was jailed for raping a pensioner.

Packer, Scotland’s most prolific sex offender, used ex-soldier Scott Forrest to claim he was innocent of the murder in letters to the Sunday Mail.

Forrest, 55, who was jailed for six years for raping a vulnerable 77-year-old, said Packer regretted Emma’s death and was trying to claim police had framed him.

In a letter from his cell at HMP Barlinnie, Forrest said: “I speak to Iain Packer every day. He says I can tell you certain things.

“Iain is not happy that she died, but not by him. The police had to catch everyone to look better.”

A source said: “Packer and Forrest seem to be best friends. They are both very serious sexual predators who claim to be innocent, so it is hardly surprising that they get along.”

While Packer has now withdrawn his legal challenge to his conviction, the 51-year-old sign installer continues to appeal his 36-year prison sentence, one of the longest handed down by a court.

Packer, 51, was found guilty of Emma’s murder 19 years after her murder. He was also convicted of 11 rapes and multiple sexual assaults against 22 women following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in February.

Forrest was handed a life-long restriction order and six years in prison in 2022 for the OAP rape, which a judge described as a “shocking depravity”.

The ex-soldier forced the pensioner into his home in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, in July 2020 and told her: “You love it” during the horror attack.

The victim eventually escaped and appeared at a police station sobbing and bleeding. Forrest then lied and claimed that he would be paid to have sex with the woman.

But in prison letters, Forrest dismisses key forensic evidence linking Packer to the site of Emma’s death and the accounts of other women he attacked.

Dr. Stefan Uitdehaag, an expert at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, compared soil samples from the ditch where Emma’s body was found with samples from Packer’s van.

He said it was “much more likely” that the samples came from the same location than from somewhere else.

Forrest said: “Police did not come out of his van to take soil samples. So there were a lot of girls there and not just with Iain.” Packer was found guilty of strangling the 27-year-old sex worker after picking her up in Glasgow city center in April 2005 and driving 41 miles to Limefield Woods in Biggar, Lanarkshire. had driven.

Her body was found by a dog handler the following month.

Packer was interviewed by police six times in connection with Emma’s murder, but as a witness, not as a suspect.

Instead the force focused on four Turkish men and after a botched operation by Strathclyde Police costing £4 million, the case failed.

It would be 19 years before Packer was brought to justice and continued to commit a series of sexual assaults and violence against other women.

He was sentenced to life in prison and had to serve at least 36 years before being considered for parole.

In March he instructed his legal team to challenge his convictions and sentence and a “notice of intent to appeal” was lodged with the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.

Earlier this month, Packer abandoned plans to appeal his conviction, but will challenge the length of his sentence and an appeal hearing will be held at a later date.

Forrest is sentenced to a minimum of six years and three months in prison.

High Court Judge Graham Buchanan, who also imposed a life restriction order, told him: “You have been convicted of an offense of shocking depravity towards a vulnerable elderly lady.”

“Given your risk, it is possible that you will never be released.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “We do not comment on individuals.”