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From BBC Scotland today:
An investigation into the original inquiry into the murder of Emma Caldwell has stalled because prosecutors cannot find a police force from outside Scotland to take on the task. Scotland’s top law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, announced two years ago she wanted an independent inquiry into potential criminality by officers involved in the case. However, the Crown Office has told BBC Scotland News that it has been unable to get an English or Welsh force to do the job because of pressures on UK-wide policing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8yzzndq12o
This is, of course, tellingly, an inquiry into policing 20 years ago under a Labour/Lib Dem government in Scotland.
I can’t help but remember a very different situation when it comes to an alleged SNP fraud case:
In a House of Lords debate on 24 October 2024, during a discussion on UK-Scottish Government relations, Lord George Foulkes (a Scottish Labour peer) raised concerns about the length of Operation Branchform (over three years at that point) and asked directly:
“So if Police Scotland ask us to provide specialist help from the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office, can we give them that help?”
The UK Government minister responding was Baroness Ruth Anderson (a Labour whip in the House of Lords). She confirmed that agencies like the NCA and SFO would be ready and willing to provide specialist assistance if requested by Police Scotland, stating that “every agency would wish to assist” with the probe.
This exchange was widely reported in Scottish media outlets on the same day (24 October 2024), including:
- The National: “UK crime agencies ‘would help’ Police Scotland with probe into SNP” (article dated 24 October 2024).
- The Herald: “Operation Branchform: UK crime agencies ready to ‘assist’ with probe”.
- Scottish Daily Express: “‘Britain’s FBI’ would help with Operation Branchform investigation…”.
- Daily Record: “Operation Branchform would receive UK Government agency help if asked, says Labour minister”.
The Emma Caldwell Public Inquiry and Scottish Labour
From Emma Caldwell Public Inquiry begins work, published yesterday:
The independent Public Inquiry into the investigation of Emma Caldwell’s murder in April 2005 has been formally set-up and begins its work today (9 Dec).
Justice Secretary Angela Constance informed Parliament on the formal setting-up date and on the Inquiry’s terms of reference through a Government Initiated Question today.
The statutory inquiry will examine what went wrong in the investigation carried out by Strathclyde Police into the murder of Emma Caldwell, including the direction given by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
It will examine what steps which could reasonably have been taken that might have resulted in Emma’s killer being apprehended and prosecuted at an earlier stage, and any other factors relevant to the circumstances of the investigation and related prosecution.
https://www.gov.scot/news/emma-caldwell-public-inquiry-begins-work/
In September 2025, Emma Caldwell’s mother thought the prosecutors hope she dies before the truth of her daughter’s tragic death comes out. I’d say Scottish Labour has more to fear and hopefully this inquiry will properly assess their guilt.
The Daily Record then did not spend any time on the wider picture of misogyny and callous neglect, going back for a century, so deep within Scottish Labour.
Here’s what they won’t tell you, in case it should hurt Anas:
From BBC Scotland, in June 2024:
Nearly 300 rapes and sexual assaults reported by sex workers during the Emma Caldwell murder investigation were not dealt with by police at the time, a senior officer has confirmed.
Police Scotland’s deputy chief constable said an operation had been launched to examine sex offences which were reported around 2005. She said a number of the offences were now being dealt with by the courts. A former detective told the BBC he had received multiple reports of rape when he worked on the murder inquiry. But he said they were “boxed” – marked as irrelevant and not followed up.
The then Strathclyde Police launched one of its most expensive murder investigations after Emma Caldwell’s body was found in remote woodland in South Lanarkshire in 2005.
Imagine, these events took place in 2015 after 8 years of SNP government?
The media would be all over the current SNP First and Justice ministers, asking why they had failed to scrutinise Strathclyde Police? Why had they apparently ignored the reports of massive abuse of sex workers?
Had First Minister Jack McConnell and Justice Secretary Cathy Jamieson taken their eyes off the ball in 2005? Were they too busy campaigning to keep the UK together in the face of surging SNP support? Should heads have rolled?
So, who can be called in?
In the UK context, for a case involving potential police misconduct, corruption, or criminality (especially serious historical failures in a major inquiry like a murder), the agency best positioned to provide specialist support or take the lead — particularly when territorial forces are unavailable or conflicted — is the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Talking-up Scotland 