Man pleads not guilty to alleged murder of sex worker Emma Caldwell

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A man has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he murdered sex worker Emma Caldwell and subjected another 27 women to physical and sexual assaults.Advocate Ronnie Renucci KC told judge Lord Beckett that his client Iain Packer denied killing Miss Caldwell in April 2005.

Mr Packer also denies a further 46 charges detailing allegations that he abused 27 more women over a 26 year period.Mr Packer’s pleas to the charges emerged during a two hour long hearing on Tuesday in which it emerged that the accused’s trial could take 11 weeks.

The court heard that it may take four further months for Mr Renucci to complete all of his “inquiries” into the case which the Crown plans to present against Mr Packer.This prompted Lord Beckett to fix a date for the trial to take place at the High Court in Glasgow in 13 months time.Lord Beckett said: “I will fix an 11 week long trial to commence its float on January 15 at the High Court in Glasgow.”Prosecutors claim he strangled Ms Caldwell - who was aged 27 at the time of her death - 27, in woodland near Biggar, Lanarkshire, in April 2005.

The Crown also allege that he attacked five other women at the same location.Prosecutors claim that Mr Packer killed Ms Caldwell at Limefield Woods in Biggar on April 5 2005 by restraining her, seizing her wrists, compressing her neck with his hands and a cable and strangling her.