According to Mona McAlinden and Sam Poling, BBC disclosure
Nearly 300 rapes and sexual assaults reported by sex workers during the investigation into Emma Caldwell’s murder were not dealt with by police at the time, senior officials have confirmed.
Scotland’s deputy chief constable said an operation had been launched to look into sex offenses reported around 2005.
He said some of the violations are now being dealt with by the courts.
A former detective told the BBC that he had received numerous reports of rape while he was working on a murder investigation.
But they said it was “boxed” – ticked as irrelevant and not forwarded.
Willie Johnston, who was in charge of the homicide investigation at the time, declined to comment.
Strathclyde Police later launched one of their costliest homicide investigations after Emma Caldwell’s body was found in remote woodland in South Lanarkshire in 2005.
The 27-year-old had been working as a sex worker in Glasgow, to fund his heroin addiction.
About 800 women worked in the city’s red light district at the time and many were interviewed by detectives in connection with the investigation.
BBC Scotland Podcast, Who killed Emma?announced that a total of 276 rapes and sexual assaults reported by sex workers during the investigation were not followed up by the police.
Former Det Sgt Willie Mason worked on the investigation in 2005.
Mr. Mason is based on a bus run by a church group that is parked weekly in the red light district.
He was tasked with gaining the trust of the women who work on the street.
Mr Mason said the women began reporting assaults on him – sometimes as many as five reports in one night.
He said: “I will take what is classified as a message from them, then I will write it the next day, and put it in the question, mentioning the name, age, date of birth, address, where they can be contacted, and say that the person in the blue car, you know, has attacked him.
“Just the basic details I told you. Sometimes they can be named, sometimes not.
“It could be anything from a slap in the face, you know, rape.
“I’m not the only one who collects it. People who do public work, they also put in the report.”
The former detective said there were questions during a briefing with those leading the Emma Caldwell homicide investigation about what happened to the report.
He said: “But we were told at one point in the daily briefing, several briefings a day, when the question was raised, that it was not an issue for this inquiry team. It would be taken up later, by another team.”
But Mr Mason said if it wasn’t continued, he was “boxed”.
“That’s a police term,” he said. “During the investigation there will be a filing cabinet, and there will be a large cardboard box that serves as a filing box.
“And if something is marked as irrelevant or unfollowed, it will be discarded.
“And most of the terms are used in the police because they know that nothing will be done about the investigation.”
In February, Iain Packer was convicted of the murder of Emma Caldwell and multiple rapes and sexual assaults.
The BBC has seen police statements taken during the murder investigation where several women were raped and assaulted allegedly against Packer.
They did not act in time and it took nearly 20 years for Packer to be tried for the crime.
Allegations were also made against others during the investigation and were not carried out.
Nicky, not her real name, worked with Emma Caldwell in Glasgow in 2005.
He said he tried to report the assault by Iain Packer but was put on hold to plead.
Nicky remembers: “There were two times I went to Stewart Street to report something, and a uniformed officer took me in a car and I went into a cell for section 46 (for prostitution).
“Because I’m on the road working and won’t do anything else with more information.”
In February, also convicted of murder, Iain Packer was also found guilty of kidnapping and attempted rape of Nicky.
He said of the police: “They don’t trust us. There were times when I was told it was your own fault, you made it your own – what you do, you know what to expect.”
After Packer was convicted, Police Scotland’s Deputy Chief Constable Bex Smith apologized and said Emma Caldwell, her family and many other victims had been “let down by the police in 2005”.
In an interview with BBC Scotland News, he said: “We did a lot of work in terms of finding out about the offenses that were reported in 2005, and there were a lot of them.
“We launched a separate operation so we could understand the offenses at the time, and we sent a number of reports to the Crown Office about the offences.
“Time is not a barrier to justice .. and if women feel they want to come forward and report now, then this is the time to do it.”
Who killed Emma? is available now on BBC Sounds and other podcast platforms