Emma Caldwell’s body was found in woods five weeks after she was last seen
The jury in the Emma Caldwell murder trial has retired for a second day to consider its verdicts.
Iain Packer denies strangling the 27-year-old in April 2005 and concealing her body in remote woodland in South Lanarkshire.
The 51-year-old also denies more than 30 other charges, mostly sexual in nature, involving 25 women.
The judge has directed them to find Mr Packer guilty on one indecent assault charge involving Ms Caldwell.
That charge relates to an incident in Glasgow in August 2004, eight months before the death of Ms Caldwell, who was a sex worker in the city.
In a police statement, Mr Packer said he had agreed payment with her for a sex act behind some billboards in the city but he had continued after she became upset and tried to pull away from him.
During cross examination at the trial at the High Court in Glasgow he said he was ashamed of his actions and agreed that they were “criminal”.
Iain Packer denies more than 30 charges against 25 women
In his directions to the jury, the judge Lord Beckett said evidence from several witnesses, including Iain Packer himself, meant he should be convicted on that charge.
Emma Caldwell’s naked body was found by a dog walker in Limefield woods near Biggar in South Lanarkshire, five weeks after she was last seen on 5 April 2005.
The trial, before Lord Beckett, began on 16 January.
