Image – Scottish Sun
Alasdair Macdonald
The media, with justification, are focussing on the failure to arrest the killer of Emma Caldwell in 2007. This was, indeed, a shocking failure of policing.
This occurred during the period when police forces in Scotland were run locally and the force responsible here was Strathclyde Police. Police Scotland had not yet been created. It was Police Scotland which solved this crime.
However, the media are not making much of that. As far as they are concerned the ‘police’ are responsible ergo Police Scotland is responsible and this enables them to blame the Scottish Government, not the Scottish Government up to 2007 which was a Labour/LibDem coalition, but the present Scottish Government. There are – rightly – demands for an enquiry into why Emma Caldwell’s murderer evaded capture for so long despite their being strong evidence, but the anger in the media is directed at the current First Minister. Although the verdict was reached only this week, the fact that an enquiry has not been established is deemed as SG tardiness.
On Reporting Scotland this week a former police officer, who was later Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation was interviewed because he was a serving officer at the time of the early investigation. He said that he had been so frustrated by the inaction of senior officers that in 2013 he ‘raised the matter with Nicola Sturgeon’. The interviewer did not latch on to this. However, it is a potential hook on which to hang blame on the SG.
In a piece of self-aggrandisement BBC Scotland journalist Samantha Poling is implying that she had solved the murder.
The attitude of police officers throughout the UK towards people reporting sexual offences against them has been appalling and many women, especially sex workers have been very unsympathetically treated, often with hostility. This week, too, we had Eilish Angiolini’s report into the Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Cousins who is in prison for raping and murdering Sarah Everard and assaulting other women. It is to be hoped that these two events this week lead to radical changes to the attitude of officers to whom sexual crimes are reported and to the procedures for recruiting officers. Although women form the largest group of victims of crimes of a sexual nature, but, per capita gay and trans people probably have as many crimes perpetrated against them. While attitudes towards gay men in the media has been much more sympathetic in recent years, the media attitude towards trans people is much more ambivalent.
By coincidence, a convicted rapist who had claimed that ‘they’ now identified as a woman and wanted to be incarcerated in a women’s prison, also died this week and this gave the media the opportunity to rehash all the anti-trans ‘horror stories’.
The media workers need to look at themselves – but, of course few will. Their job is to sow fear and hatred in society.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
To be fair it must be exhausting for both BBC/STV and their intrepid ‘Journalists’ (to use term loosely) that they need to scan the countryside every day to find someone (preferably a Unionist) who has either been ‘forgotten about’, ’abused’, on a ‘lengthy SNHS waiting list’, has had to go ‘private’ for health care procedure or has not had their bins collected on the day, their council house is infested with mould/rats whatever, somebody has been subject of domestic abuse, has a drug den neighbour, robbery/ assault that the police have ignored.
The list is endless so nothing is too small or insignificant that cannot be directly attributed to the Scot Gov or far more likely from a tip off from theTory/Slabour Party and/or their media chums. It would not be a tea time news report without at least one SNP Baad story to give the viewer the impression everything in Scotland is nearing collapse or just simply sh**e.
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Not having visited the BBC site for a bit, but aware of Emma Caldwell’s face having been on display for some time, Alasdair’s comment piqued my curiosity, so went for a look…. Alasdair’s ultimate comment “The media workers need to look at themselves – but, of course few will. Their job is to sow fear and hatred in society” is absolutely spot on…..
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It does make one wonder if the publicity this case is receiving now would have been so comprehensive if ALL the pertinent facts in relation to the it had been first hand knowledge. The spin, before I read this article, seemed to me to be pointing at Police Scotland’s failure and, because of that, the SG must be to blame. Judging by comments on SM many others thought the same.
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The murder was solved by retired detective Gerry Gallacher who took it upon himself to secretly research the case at considerable peril to himself. He eventually brought his findings to the Sunday Mail who published them on their front page. It still took the police 8 years to arrest and charge Packer. Without the intervention of Gallacher Packer would still be cruising the streets of Glasgow today.
Strangely enough Poling does not mention him once in her tv documentary or podcast series on the case. I wonder why..?
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Have you even got the first idea….how dare you….if it was not for the outstanding effort and meticulous investigive skills, Ian packer would not have been arrested after Sam’s doc aired and without it I believe that woman like me would nev(yes I was a victim and l his)and I owe aam so much… funny bef
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