Retired Detective Gerry Gallacher: A Tale of Justice for Emma Caldwell

Accident – Death – Obituary News : : 1. Retired cop solves murder case
2. Gerry Gallacher investigation controversy

Retired detective Gerry Gallacher took on a personal quest to solve the murder of sex worker Emma Caldwell, whose case had gone unsolved for almost 20 years. Despite facing obstacles and skepticism, Gerry dedicated 18 months to meticulously investigating the crime. His efforts led to the identification and conviction of serial sex attacker Iain Packer, who had evaded justice for years. Gerry’s determination and attention to detail ultimately brought closure to Emma’s family and served as a reminder of the importance of perseverance in seeking justice. This real-life detective story showcases the power of one man’s relentless pursuit of truth in the face of adversity.

The Unsung Hero: How a Retired Detective Cracked a Cold Case and Brought a Killer to Justice

Every police incident room has one: a crime wall where clues are displayed. Lists of names, photos, maps, lurid Post-it notes, random scribbles, all go up in the hope that one day a vital connection will be made and the mystery solved.

Retired detective Gerry Gallacher had such a wall. But his was to be found in the third bedroom of his immaculate house in a quiet cul-de-sac outside Glasgow. Not for Gerry golf or model aeroplane making in retirement. He was trying to solve a murder in his spare room.

He smiles when asked about the epic amount of paperwork his retirement ‘project’ must have involved sifting through. ‘Oh aye, pages spread all over the floor, and then up the wall, stuck on with Sellotape,’ he says. ‘My wife Marjorie would come in with a sandwich and say, ‘Gerry, you’re retired. This isn’t your job.’ I’d say, ‘If this was our daughter, would you not want someone doing this?’

‘She supported me once I’d explained. Her attitude was, ‘Well, if you are going to do this, you’d better do a damn good job on it.’ So I did.’

The Murder of Emma Caldwell: A 20-Year Mystery

The murder victim whose killer he was determined to bring to justice was Emma Caldwell, a 27-year-old sex worker whose body had been found in remote woods 40 miles from Glasgow in 2005.

But while four men were charged with her murder, the case against them collapsed and Emma’s killing remained unsolved. Gerry, an old-school detective once described as a ‘pit bull’ by a notorious Glasgow gangster, was not involved in the original investigation.

But after he retired in 2011, a chance comment from a colleague led him to start his own 18-month clandestine investigation.

Uncovering the Truth: Gerry’s One-Man Inquiry

Was it legal? He’s a little coy about certain aspects of his modus operandi but says: ‘I told Marge that if the cops got wind of what I was doing, and the information I had access to, I’d probably be arrested and facing jail because I’d never reveal my sources.’

Whatever evidence he had has long gone from the house. But what charges could he have faced? ‘Theft? Data protection? They would have found plenty.’ He adds: ‘But I have no qualms there. I was on the side of the angels.’ Gerry certainly was. Last month, justice was finally served for Emma, albeit almost 20 years late.

Bringing the Killer to Justice

Serial sex attacker Iain Packer, 51, was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison, found guilty of 33 charges against a total of 22 women. As well as Emma’s murder, he was found guilty of 11 rapes.

The court heard that the sadist had a penchant for outdoor sex involving strangulation and would often drive prostitutes to remote woods to indulge in his fantasies.

There, he killed Emma, leaving her naked body to be found by a dog-walker. But guess which investigation — the official one, which cost £4 million of taxpayers’ money, or Gerry’s one-man inquiry carried out from the spare room — correctly identified Packer as Emma’s killer?

Almost unbelievably, it was the latter. Gerry wasn’t in court to see justice served, but there was a quiet sense of satisfaction of a job well done when he received the news.

The Legacy of Emma Caldwell

During his long police career, he put away murderers and sex offenders but says ‘this is the biggest sentence I got. Ironic really, since I was retired and it was not my case’.

Quite how the original investigation failed to identify Packer as a prime suspect is now the subject of an independent inquiry in Scotland, where this case has been called ‘the worst scandal in policing history’. 

Emma’s family have been rightly appalled to discover that the evidence that eventually convicted Packer was available within the first few weeks after her death.

Instead, they claim, the police ‘gifted freedom to an evil predator to rape and rape again’. They blamed a ‘culture of misogyny and corruption’ for the appalling police failings.

Gerry Gallacher is the unsung, unpaid, hero of this disgraceful debacle. Astonishingly, he has never met Emma’s mother Margaret. She may not even know the extent of what he did for her daughter. 

But for 18 months he quietly plugged away with his Post-it notes. He interviewed witnesses and followed up leads, painstakingly poring over existing evidence.