Emma Caldwell murder trial jury to visit site where body found

Emma Caldwell's body was found in May 2005

The jury in the Emma Caldwell murder trial will travel to the site where her body was discovered.

A judge confirmed the decision as the man accused of killing the 27-year-old in 2005 appeared in the dock for a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.

Iain Packer, 50, is charged with assaulting Ms Caldwell with intent to rape and murdering her in Limefield Woods in Biggar, South Lanarkshire.

He has pleaded not guilty to that and 45 other charges.

Mr Packer's lawyers have lodged a special defence of incrimination in response to charges that he strangled Ms Caldwell with intent to rape her, murdered her and then disposed of her body and other items in an alleged bid to "defeat the end of justice".

The trial is due to begin in January and is expected to last about nine weeks.

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Ms Caldwell, a sex worker in Glasgow, disappeared in April 2005. Her body was found five weeks later in a remote part of South Lanarkshire.

A hearing in Edinburgh last year was told how prosecutors had discussed taking jurors out of the courtroom and travelling to the scene where the body was found.

The court was told that the area of woods was in a "remote location" more than 40 miles from Glasgow.

Advocate depute Richard Goddard KC said visiting the location would be an "extremely valuable use of court time" with no health and safety issues.

He added: "Landmarks would be identified by the Crown, which the jury would be shown. It is proposed the jury would see the place where the deceased was recovered."

Several of the other alleged crimes listed on the indictment are also said to have occurred at Limefield Woods.

Lord Beckett - who will preside over the trial - said taking jurors to a site relevant to a case "had been done in the past".

He gave permission adding that he was "satisfied it be competently done".

Police carried out a new search of the woods in 2017

The visit is scheduled to be carried out on day 15 of the trial.

Lord Beckett said the trial could last nine weeks "if it goes smoothly".

It also emerged that a woman Mr Packer is accused of indecently assaulting has died since the previous hearing in December last year. Her evidence will be led by a police statement being read to the jury.

Mr Packer faces a total of 46 charges spanning between 1990 and 2016.

The murder accusation claims he assaulted Ms Caldwell by restraining her, grabbing her wrists and strangling her with his hands and a cable.

Mr Packer is then said to have dumped her naked body in the woods as well as disposing of her clothes, phone and other personal belongings.

He is alleged to have cleaned a car as part of efforts to "conceal and destroy evidence" as well as to "avoid detection, arrest and prosecution".

Among the other charges are accusations of rape, indecent and sexual assault, as well as abduction involving a number of other women.

Mr Packer denies all the charges. His lawyers have lodged special defences of self-defence over two assault charges.

Lord Beckett fixed a further all-day hearing due to take place on 6 November in Edinburgh.