A serial rapist who was jailed for life for the murder of Emma Caldwell has failed in an attempt to reduce his prison sentence.

Iain Packer, 51, was in February ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years behind bars after being convicted of a string of violent offences.

Alongside double-murderer Andrew Innes, it is the second longest sentence ever handed down by a Scottish court, behind the 37-year minimum jail term given to World’s End killer Angus Sinclair in 2014.

As well as the 2005 murder of Ms Caldwell, 27, Packer was also found guilty of 11 charges of rape against nine women and 21 other crimes following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Wednesday, lawyers for Packer argued Lord Beckett’s sentence was “excessive”.

Defence advocate Gordon Jackson KC told judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Matthews and Lady Wise: “I ask if it is acceptable in a civilised society that we say to a man in his 50s that he will not be released – regardless of what happens – until he is in his 80s?

“I say it is not. I say that in a civilised society… we should not be doing that.”

After conferring with colleagues, Lady Dorrian ruled the appeal refused.

A written judgment explaining the decision will be issued in the near future.

Aamer Anwar, the solicitor acting on behalf of Ms Caldwell’s mother Margaret, said: “Mr Packer evaded justice for nearly 19 years but will die a convicted killer and serial rapist.

“Packer’s name will one day turn to dust, long after Emma’s name lives on.

“Had it not been for Margaret Caldwell’s tireless campaigning, then any hope of justice would have been buried forever.”

Ms Caldwell vanished in April 2005 just days after telling her mother about her hopes to defeat a heroin addiction, which began after her sister’s death.

She went missing in Glasgow while working as a sex worker. Her body was discovered the following month in Limefield Woods, South Lanarkshire.

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Investigating officers interviewed Packer that June but he was not convicted until almost two decades later after cold case detectives re-examined the case in 2015.

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Following Packer’s conviction, Sky News heard testimony from several former sex workers who raised concerns to police about his dangerous sexual behaviour years before Ms Caldwell was murdered.

Police Scotland apologised to Ms Caldwell’s family and Packer’s other victims for how the original inquiry was handled by what was then Strathclyde Police, saying they were “let down”.

The Scottish government announced in March a public inquiry will be held into the police handling of the murder investigation.

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Mr Anwar stated Packer is “now irrelevant to the Caldwell family” as he continued their calls for the inquiry judge to be from outside Scotland’s jurisdiction.

The lawyer added: “For far too long those responsible for gifting a killer his freedom have remained in the shadows, but they must face the glare of public scrutiny, the only forum for that will be before a statutory judge-led public inquiry.

“There should be no hiding place for those who perverted the course of justice, the victims of Packer deserve nothing less.”

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