Emma Caldwell murder: ‘Culture of police misogyny behind failure to protect women from killers’

A former detective is calling for a Royal Commission to overhaul Police Scotland in the wake of the Emma Caldwell debacle.

Tony Bone, who was part of the team that solved the horrific murder of Margo Lafferty, 27, one of a number of sex workers killed in Glasgow, believes one of the worst failures in the history of policing was “driven by a toxic culture of misogyny”.

Bone, who became part of Scotland’s hugely successful Violence Reduction Unit before becoming a solicitor specialising in domestic violence, said: “The dreadful mistakes made in the Emma Caldwell case were driven by a toxic culture of misogyny.

“Police Scotland has rightly apologised. But my concern is that the same culture that existed all during the Emma Caldwell case still exists today to a great extent. Male egos rode roughshod over good policing, and we have seen exactly what the ramifications of that are when you look at how an extremely dangerous individual like Iain Packer was allowed to remain at large for decades to destroy even more lives.

“Very little has changed as far as what happens on the ground today, despite what Police Scotland now says.

“The only way for things to truly change is for a Royal Commission to completely overhaul the force and re-focus attention on the overwhelming level of violence and sexual crimes against women and girls, much of which continues to remain uninvestigated because officers are not properly versed in domestic abuse law.”

Sexism and misogyny ‘remains today’

Bone said the sexism and misogyny that allowed Iain Packer to remain free for almost 20 years to continue raping and attacking dozens of other women remains today, despite the national force insisting it has changed.

He said: “The relentless ­campaign led by the Sunday Post to expose the appalling failures in cases like the murder of Louise Aitchison and Adrienne McCartney, the abused mother driven to take her own life after police and the justice system failed her, highlighted the same patterns of officer behaviour that was prevalent when Emma was murdered.

“When the Sunday Post went on to further expose the bullying and misogyny directed at so many female officers that they were quitting the force, like Gemma MacRae, the then Chief Constable Iain Livingstone finally had to admit what everyone else could see – Police Scotland is sexist and misogynistic.

“For a Chief Constable to have to make that statement was an astonishing moment in time. It was inevitable when Livingstone then stepped away, he was replaced by a woman, Chief Constable Joanna Farrell.

“But the sexism and ­misogyny didn’t disappear overnight.

“No matter how many ‘new’ initiatives and protestations there have been, my work representing women like Adrienne McCartney shows the culture of not properly dealing with abused women continues.

“There were countless women reporting being attacked and raped by Emma’s killer, Iain Packer, who saw no action by police because they were sex workers and, as a result, many opportunities to jail a dangerous predator were lost.

“Much of that same type of attitude towards women ­continues today.

“I have vulnerable women clients who are living in terror and despair because the police still do not give them the protection and justice the law allows, mainly because so many of them are unaware of the full powers of domestic abuse laws.

“I have one woman whose abusive partner has 18 breaches of bail and continues terrorising her. The police tell this distraught woman they can’t do anything about it.

“It’s a nonsense. A shambles.”

© Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Bone says until Police Scotland are forced to properly address their whole attitude towards violence against women and girls – which experts say accounts for a million unreported attacks a year – very little will change.

He said: “Police Scotland have dedicated domestic abuse teams, but they are hugely unresourced.

“Training is a major issue, which is why we see officers telling victims they can’t investigate issues which are covered by domestic abuse laws.

“Not enough is being done to tackle bail abuses, which allow dangerous individuals to remain free.

“I would like to see officers working closely with third-party agencies, such as Women’s Aid, to provide a fully effective approach to tackling the domestic abuse that is the springboard for so much of the crime and social issues that blight too many lives.

“A child exposed to violence in the home is much more at risk of developing mental health issues, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug problems, or go on to have behavioural problems which affect the rest of their lives.

“It is imperative there is a zero-tolerance approach to domestic abuse if we are ever going to see an end to it. But time and again victims are let down by the justice system.

“Much of that stems from how the police approach domestic abuse, and that is why we need a Royal Commission to completely overturn how these crimes are currently dealt with. They need to be top priority.

“The actual structure of the force should also be looked at so we never again see what happened in the Emma case, where senior officers were allowed to pursue particular agendas and overrule junior officers who had clear evidence of alternative suspects.”

‘Rip things up and start again’

Bone warns that, unless we “rip things up and start again”, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls will never end in Scotland.

He said: “It worries me that the same attitudes which prevailed when blinkered male ego-driven officers would arrest women like Emma when they reported attacks or rapes, is still there to some extent.

“One feature of the ­incompetence that allowed Packer to remain at large for so long was because, despite many instances where women had reported him, those reports were never investigated or acted upon. If they had been, Packer would have been jailed years before he was.

“A great deal of my work with domestic abuse victims currently shows many reports of violence and abuse are still not being acted upon, a dangerous scenario that proves not all of the lessons that should have been learned as a result of the Emma debacle, have been learned.

“Until that attitude is gone completely, we will never see the change that is needed to make Police Scotland as effective as it should be and needs to be.

“There are many ­campaigners like me who are relentlessly determined to ensure that the rights of vulnerable women and girls are protected and those responsible for perpetuating violence in all its forms are brought to justice.”