A 49-year-old man has been arrested today in connection with the death of Emma Caldwell, nearly 18 years after her body was found in woods in South Lanarkshire
Emma Caldwell, who was 27 at the time, was last seen between 12.30am and 1.30am on April 5, 2005, on London Road, Glasgow and was reported missing by her family on April 10, 2005.
Ms Caldwell had been a sex worker in Glasgow's red-light district when she disappeared on April 4, 2005.
Her body was found in woods in Roberton, near Biggar, South Lanarkshire, in May 8, 2005.
The unsolved case was reopened in 2015 following consideration by senior lawyers in the Crown Office and tireless campaigning by Emma's mother, Margaret Caldwell.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Graeme Mackie, said: "Police Scotland officers have undertaken a significant amount of work re-investigating all the circumstances surrounding Emma’s death following instruction from the Lord Advocate in 2015.
"This is a complex and challenging investigation and I would like to thank everyone involved for their efforts in getting us to this point of a man being arrested earlier today.
READ MORE: Emma Caldwell mother praised for resillience and "tireless campaign"
“Emma’s family, in particular her mother Margaret, have shown incredible resilience and determination since her death in 2005 and I would like to pay tribute to that today.
“We have remained in close contact with them during this investigation and officers have updated Margaret on this significant development.
“The investigation into Emma’s death continues and I would urge anyone with information, no matter how small or insignificant they might think it is, to please come forward and speak to us.
“As legal proceedings are now live we are unable to comment further.”
Speaking at a police press conference this afternoon Aamer Anwar, the solicitor on behalf of Emma Caldwell said: "I can advise that at 11am today Margaret Caldwell and myself met the Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Graeme Mackie.
"Margaret was advised that a 49-year-old man had been arrested this morning in connection with the murder of her daughter Emma Caldwell in 2005 and that this male remains in custody.
"This arrest takes place after significant enquiries by detectives from Police Scotland's Major Investigation Team and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
"Margaret and her family are truly grateful to the detectives at Police Scotland and the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain's team who have worked tirelessly in reinvestigating the murder of Emma since we met with the then Lord Advocate in 2015.
"I also wish to pay tribute to Margaret Caldwell, a mother who through the love of a child has never given up in her struggle for justice.
"The investigation into Emma's death continues and her family would urge anyone with information, no matter how insignificant they might think it is, to please come forward and speak to Police Scotland.
"I would ask that Margaret's privacy and that of her family is respected. As proceedings are now live it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to state that nothing should be done to interfere with the administration of justice."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article