Angela Constance MSP, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, announced that there would be an independent public inquiry into the police handling of the investigation.

[3] Caldwell's family grew concerned when they could not reach her on 6 April, after arranging to meet and spent weeks searching for her around Glasgow.

Her report stated "the pattern of injury is more in keeping with manual strangulation, but the application of a ligature – either instead of, or in addition to a hand – could not be excluded.

[5] The first major lead came when Caldwell's phone history was investigated, with her last contact being with a previously unknown Turkish man.

[13] The investigation became the most expensive in Strathclyde Police's history (totalling £4 million), with extensive audio and visual surveillance of the men.

Further evidence emerged when a search found a speck of blood identified as being from Caldwell, and one of the last 'pings' on her mobile phone was linked to a location near the cafe.

[18] In April 2015, the Sunday Mail newspaper published an article naming Iain Packer as a person who had been questioned by the police just weeks after Caldwell's body was found in 2005.

[18] Women working in the sex industry had complained about Packer in 2005, putting him in a 'Beware Book', which collected warnings from prostitutes about potentially dangerous clients.

[23] Within days of the documentary being broadcast, one of his former partners went to the police to complain that Packer had pushed her onto a bed, put his hands around her throat, choked her to her injury, and to danger of life.

[26] The trial against Packer began in January 2024, with him pleading not guilty to 36 charges of physical and sexual violence against multiple women.

He said "the most compelling of all was the place where her body was found, there is nothing to suggest that anyone other than Packer had a predilection for strangling sex workers in Limefield Woods.

He finished by saying that the prosecution believed that the strangulation and the murder of Caldwell was the most horrifying chapter in what the evidence tells us was Packer's appalling course of sexual violence towards women that lasted over a period of two decades.

Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing Caldwell called for a public inquiry in response to this, and said officers who worked on the original investigation must answer for their conduct as Packer went on to attack numerous other women.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar MSP called for this investigation to be led by someone "separate to and independent from Scotland's justice system".

Sarwar said the case was one in a long line of 'failures' within Scottish institutions, "which too often fight for their reputations rather than be on the side of victims and seek to find the truth.

A significant number of women and girls who showed remarkable courage to speak up at that time, did not get the justice and support they needed and deserved from Strathclyde Police.

We have reflected and learnt from the initial investigation and subsequent re-investigation, significant changes have been made to our organisational culture, response, victim care, and processes for these types of crimes.

"[35] On 5 March 2024 Caldwell's mother met with Humza Yousaf and appealed for a public inquiry into the handling of her daughter's case.

Their lawyer commented "the scale of the crimes and the failures are so catastrophic that only an independent judge outside of the Scottish justice system would suffice."

The family are to meet with new Scottish First Minister John Swinney, and Justice Secretary Angela Constance, to discuss plans for the inquiry, which has not yet commenced.

[40] At the Court of Criminal Appeal, lawyers for Packer, who appeared via video link from prison, argued that the 36-year term was excessive.