By Gabriel Princewill-
The Scottish government and Glasgow police owe the Scottish public an explanation of the grounds on which they charged Turks for the murder of Emma Caldwell(pictured) in light of the subsequent fact they were in fact innocent.
In the days leading up to the Scottish government’s announcement on Thursday of a public inquiry into police handling of the investigation into Caldwell’s murder, The Eye Of Media.Com had been engaging both the Scottish government and Glasgow police in search for answers in the Caldwell case.
We didn’t have much joy in obtaining any real answers to a problem that may be more pervasive than one thought, not only in the Scottish police force, but potentially other forces too.
However, it is in the Scottish system that the recurring problem of mistaken criminal charges in murder cases has been spotted.
Both the Scottish government and its police force need to explain to the British public how it is that its law enforcement agents managed to charge the wrong man for murder and hold unto those charges for a while before dropping them.
How and why did it make such catastrophic error, and why has such error been found to be repetitive within the same jurisdiction?
It duly serves the public interest to ascertain the existence of robust and reliably safe oversight mechanisms by every police force in the UK, when it comes to criminal investigations by police and the subsequent process of charging decisions.
Erroneous charging decisions in serious criminal investigations as serious as murder have to be a matter of profound regret, and also warrant cogent explanations to the public when they occur again and again.
Unsolved Murders Of Prostitutes
Our push comes after it came to light that previous unsolved murders of prostitutes in Glasgow have similarly had a number of suspects charged in the unsolved murders of several other prostitutes in the city before those charges were eventually dropped.
In other words, a murderer or a few more remain at large, unless ofcourse Packer is himself responsible for all those murders. It is unlikely the Scottish inquiry will seek to answer those questions since its focus will be on the investigation surrounding the Caldwell murder.
Yet, a common thread in all those murders is the false allegations made by police coupled with a dangerously flawed legal charging process. How concerned should the public be that the wrong man could have a murder charge hanging over their head at the mercy of the same system later discovering their bungle?
Bungled murder cases appear to be characteristic of the Scottish police system- one calling for a desperate overhaul.
Iain Packer was eventually convicted for Caldwell’s murder, but even he on Thursday lodged an appeal against his conviction, raising the potentially frightening theoretical prospect that he too may be innocent, but was innocently connected to the victim.
Ofcourse, this is not the view espoused by our publication, but with multiple dropped charges in murder cases in Scotland , accompanied with a few acquittals, anything is surely possible.
Caldwell’s family said their loved one began taking heroin to numb the effect of her older’s sister’s death, and was prostituting to finance her habit. She never envisaged that she too would soon be fast tracked to the other side by the monstrous and callous indiscretions of one of her punters.
The recent revelation that criminal charges laid against Turkish individuals in the Emma Caldwell murder case were dropped, only for it to later emerge that someone else was guilty, has no doubt plunged Glasgow Police into a maelstrom of scrutiny and criticism.
One skeptical Scottish lawyer anonymously expressed deep concern over the failings of the justice system in these series of troubling murders.
He said: ”the fact that there have also been acquittals in some of the criminal cases against suspects raises troubling questions about the reliability of the evidence presented in court.
He asks:”Were these acquittals the result of procedural errors, witness tampering, or perhaps even outright fabrication of evidence?
Moreover, an added layer to the deep-seated concerns is the fact that there have been acquittals in some of the criminal cases against some of the unsolved murder suspects, raises troubling questions about the reliability of the evidence presented in court.
”This seismic turn of events has left the public reeling and demanding answers as to how charges were brought against certain individuals without sufficient evidence and what exactly led to the subsequent withdrawal of those charges.
Most importantly, how police could embark on what could have amounted to a potential grave miscarriage of justice is in the public interest to establish.
Representatives of the Scottish government Justice and Home Affairs attempted to swerve the issue. They told The Eye Of Media.Com that the police and the court are independent, overlooking the fact that it still has a responsibility over both professional bodies, notwithstanding the separation of powers.
Its public inquiry will seek to address but a general statement encompassing the nature of events that could possibly culminate in such disastrous step as to erroneously place murder charges on innocent parties would not go amiss.
Whether ineptitude of police, reckless judgement, or a circumstantial semblance of guilt spurred the flawed decision to charge multiple suspects for murder is a curious question.
Intutitively, no citizen of any country deserves to have a false murder charge hanging over their head whilst the real perpetrator continues to evade capture as occurred until Packer was caught.
Emma Caldwell’s tragic murder remains a haunting specter in Glasgow’s collective memory.
A young woman with her whole life ahead of her, cut down in the prime of her youth. Her death shocked the community and induced a fervent quest for justice.
In the aftermath of her murder, Iain Packer was eventually convicted for her death after the false allegation against the unnamed Turks.
Iain Packer was found guilty of murdering Emma Caldwell in 2005 (Image: PA Media)
A pressing question is how the false murder charges were made , given the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) mandate that charges should only be brought when the threshold of a realistic prospect of conviction in court is met
The decision to impose murder charges on individuals without sufficient evidence raises troubling questions about both the integrity of the investigative process and the quality of the charging process
The public deserves answers, and they deserve accountability from those entrusted with upholding the law.
Although the public inquiry will seek to ensure that Glasgow Police must provides a comprehensive explanation for their actions in the Emma Caldwell murder investigation, the Scottish government has a responsibility to act quicker in seeking answers and instituting a framework to prevent a recurrence of such dangerous miscarriage of justice.
The next miscarriage of justice may be occurring right under their nose long before the timeless public inquiry the government announced yesterday.
The pursuit of justice must always be guided by integrity, fairness, and a commitment to upholding the rights of all individuals involved. Anything less is a betrayal of the trust placed in our law enforcement agencies, and a disservice to both the victims and the public at large.
Hopefully the Scottish inquiry in this case will be more comprehensive than thought and eventually provide the answers the public need.
Our eyes will be watching if and when the time comes.