A man accused of murdering a Glasgow sex worker has apologised in court for a sexual assault on her the year before she died.

Iain Packer admitted he attacked Emma Caldwell during his second day of evidence at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, and agreed with a prosecutor that what he did was “criminal”.

Packer, 51, faces a total of 36 charges involving offences against multiple women.

Ms Caldwell, 27, went missing in Glasgow in April 2005 and her body was found in Limefield Woods, near Roberton, less than an hour’s drive from the city, a month later.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard KC asked Packer if he accepted he was guilty of indecently assaulting Ms Caldwell the year before after paying her £30 to perform a sex act on him behind a billboard in the Barras area.

He told police at the time “I continued to hold onto her waist. I was saying, ‘we have agreed before we started, I have paid for this’. She managed to pull away and was upset.”

It was, he said, “something that I’m not very happy about, I’m ashamed of. I apologise for that, it’s not something I’m proud of”.

Glasgow City Council set to ban pavement parking

Thales wins £1.8bn Ministry of Defence contract to maintain Royal Navy fleet over next 15 years

Police investigate rape of girl in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park

A friend of Ms Caldwell said in a witness statement read in court: “I thought he was stalking her or obsessed with her because he would not leave her alone, it got to the point he would drive up behind other punters and basically scare them off.”

Packer denied that Ms Caldwell was someone he particularly looked out for.

Mr Goddard asked Packer how many women alleged they were strangled by him.

The prosecutor said: “Could it be 11? Are they all lying?”

Packer said: “It can’t be a coincidence if it never happened.”

In 1999, a sex worker reported Packer to police alleging she was raped – and handed over identity documents taken from his work van.

Mr Goddard said: “Might it be that she took these documents to have paperwork to report a serious rape committed by you?”

Packer said: “I’ve no idea.”

He claimed to have taken six different women to Limefield Woods on six occasions, but only named Emma Caldwell.

A sex worker who Packer admitted taking there, said she “thought he was going to batter f*** out of me. I was petrified out in the middle of nowhere nearly stripped with that nutter”.

In Packer’s version, he told the young woman: “This is the second time you’ve f****** done this to me, just take your clothes off and get it f****** over and done with.”

Another alleged victim said Packer chose girls who were “young, vulnerable and on drugs”, after an encounter in a sauna in 2005, the court heard.

The trial continues in front of Judge Lord Beckett.

Related posts:

Missing Oxford student has chronic condition and was ‘struggling to cope’ with shielding, mum says Laura Kenny makes history with fifth cycling gold – as Team GB medal haul continues Mass pitch invasions and altercation between Vieira and fan in ‘disgusting’ night of football clashes British brothers, aged seven and nine, drown in German lake Four women selected to live and work in remote part of Antarctica with colony of penguins Warnings of snow, ice and flooding after cold snap moves in from Arctic Millions of households facing 5% council tax rise from April Boy dies after being pulled from river Man caught with loaded crossbow in late Queen assassination bid sentenced to nine years in custody Derek Draper, husband of Kate Garraway and former political adviser, dies Brianna Ghey’s father says ‘evil’ killers ‘should be forgotten’ as he describes ‘horror’ of daughter’s death Woman who ran over her fiance after argument jailed for life