DEMANDS for a public inquiry over the Emma Caldwell murder investigation are mounting amid accusations of a “concerted cover-up.”

The 27-year-old’s body was found strangled in woods near Roberton in South Lanarkshire in 2005, but murderer Iain Packer evaded justice for more than 18 years.

Sentencing him for his “extraordinary campaign of sexual violence,” judge Lord Beckett ordered that Packer serve no less than a total of 36 years in prison this week, not only for murder but for 11 rapes against nine women and 21 further charges, including sexual assaults and abduction, over the last 26 years.

But now it is the police investigation which stands in the dock, as Caldwell’s mother Margaret called for an public inquiry into their actions.

In a statement on her behalf, human rights lawyer and campaigner, Aamer Anwar said: “Police officers stand accused of a shameful betrayal of these women to protect their own careers and of alleged criminality that allowed one of the UK’s worst sex offenders to evade justice for 18 years.

“The reality is that for over a decade the police engaged in a concerted cover-up, followed by Police Scotland carrying out unlawful spying on Sunday Mail journalists and police officers who had identified Iain Packer as the murderer.

“In that whole period the crown ordered no further investigation into the killer or the police — it must beg the question why?

“What were they trying to hide?”

He added: “A public inquiry is in reality the only body capable of revealing the truth, and without truth there can never truly be justice.”

Pressed by both Labour and Tory leaders at First Minister’s questions on Thursday, Humza Yousaf committed to “come back urgently” on the matter, adding: “There are many questions to answer.”