Emma Caldwell murder trial told of kitchen knife threat

Iain Packer denies killing sex worker Emma Caldwell and charges against 27 other women

The Emma Caldwell murder trial has been told how the man accused of killing her threatened another woman with a kitchen knife.

Jurors heard that Iain Packer put the woman through "two weeks of hell" when she tried to end their relationship.

She also told police there had been no noticeable change in his behaviour at the time Ms Caldwell's body was found in South Lanarkshire woods in May 2005.

Mr Packer denies killing Ms Caldwell and charges against 27 other women.

Ms Caldwell, a sex worker from Glasgow, disappeared in April 2005. Her body was found five weeks later.

The trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard from a witness, now in her 40s, who was living with Mr Packer, 51, at the time.

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The woman recalled that there were times he would go out - for instance claiming he needed a cigarette - and end up being away for hours.

She was asked about Mr Packer's demeanour during the period Ms Caldwell went missing.

She claimed he was "grumpy" and "moody", but attributed this to personal circumstances at the time.

The jury was also told about an incident in June 2006, when the witness caught Mr Packer in bed with another woman who quickly left the property.

She said: "I was told that it was just someone that he had met while walking the dog, but I don't know how that ends up with you being naked."

Iain Packer is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow

Prosecutor Richard Goddard KC asked her about "incidents" that followed with Mr Packer.

"Two weeks of hell pretty much," the woman said.

"In hindsight, I should never have gone back, but it was made very difficult for me to leave again."

She claimed that during this time the door was locked and her phone was taken away.

The woman added: "Iain was a strong guy. I could not move him. The key was taken away."

The witness claimed Mr Packer also came at her with a kitchen knife and held it to her chest.

She told jurors: "I had had enough. I said, 'Just do it then'. He backed off at that point."

Mr Packer's lawyer Ronnie Renucci put to the witness that he did not hold the blade at the woman.

She replied: "He definitely did."

The trial also heard from another woman who claimed she was raped by Mr Packer between 1998 and 1999, after meeting him at a sauna in Glasgow.

'Treating women rough'

In pre-recorded testimony, the woman said he had sex with her without a condom despite her insisting he wore one.

She said : "I felt terrible, disgusted. I did not want to be in that position."

The court later heard about a sex worker, who had identified Mr Packer as a man she had previously had "business" with.

In a police statement given in 2015, the woman, who has since died, said there was an argument about him wearing a condom and she remembered him being "really rough".

She said: "He came across as a Jack the lad. He was very focused on his fantasies, which was women's underwear and treating women rough."

Mr Packer faces a total of 46 charge against multiple women, three men and a teenage boy, between 1990 and 2016.

He denies strangling 27-year-old Emma Caldwell in Limefield Woods near Biggar in 2005 and concealing her body.

The murder charge alleges Mr Packer assaulted Ms Caldwell by restraining her, grabbing her wrists and strangling her with his hands and a cable.

He 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 to "avoid detection, arrest and prosecution".

The trial before judge Lord Beckett continues.