Helensburgh-based police chief Stephen House now being blamed for Emma Caldwell blunders

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with then Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House — **Nicola Sturgeon and Sir Stephen House were all smiles in July 2015.**

By Bill Heaney and Lucy Ashton

One of Scotland’s most senior police officers was in charge of Strathclyde Police and then Police Scotland for much of the period when the Emma Caldwell murder was under investigation.

Speaking outside court after evil Iain Packer was finally convicted of her murder, Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing Emma’s mother Margaret and the Caldwell family, said they feel “betrayed” by Sir Stephen House and his senior detectives.

Sir Stephen House with the motor bike on which he visited police stations.

He said: “No grieving mother should ever be forced to set up a campaign to get justice, let alone a campaign that lasts nearly 19 years. Margaret believes she was betrayed by Strathclyde Police and by Sir Stephen House, and his senior detectives – House was formerly Chief Constable of Strathclyde and Police Scotland and lived in Helensburgh. He is now Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, presently suspended.

“On Stephen House’s watch in 2015, the ‘Counter Corruption Unit’ unlawfully spied on police officers who blamed Iain Packer and tried to uncover the Sunday Mail sources, when the police should have been more concerned with taking a serial rapist and killer off the streets.”

Born in Glasgow and educated at Kelvinside Academy, House and his family moved to London when he was 11. He returned to Scotland to study at the University of Aberdeen, where he was punched in the face one night while queuing for chips. The police response made an impression, and he later recalled: “They were professional and determined to catch the people who did it.”

House joined Sussex Police, but he admits he wasn’t “particularly good” as a “street cop”. He told The Scotsman in 2013: “I wasn’t lazy. I was hard-working. But it’s not my natural game. Other cops were better at talking to people than I was. It may be that I was a bit too judgmental.

He rose rapidly through the ranks at West Yorkshire and Staffordshire before joining the Metropolitan Police in 2001 as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner, before being appointed Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police in November 2007, succeeding Sir William Rae.

A bug had been planted in a Turkish cafe in Glasgow but the supposedly incriminating transcripts were riddled with translation errors. In November, as Sir Stephen was settling into his new role, the charges against the four men were dropped and the case went cold for a number of years.

In April 2013, the SNP-run Scottish Executive merged the eight regional police forces into one national police service in a bid to save money – ignoring fears that local knowledge would be lost and the new national force would become too susceptible to political control.

House – who was knighted in the same year – had been lobbying for the creation of Police Scotland and there was only one man for the top job, with former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill hailing his “impressive track record of leadership, partnership working and delivery”.

Not everyone was impressed however. Sir Stephen’s behaviour brought a mixed reaction from colleagues for his pro-active approach to policing.

It was reported: “The most senior police officer in Scotland has been warned against making arrests – because of fears that he is putting himself at unnecessary risk by enforcing the law.

“It comes after Sir Stephen House flagged down a motorist on the M8 near Glasgow as he was travelling on a police motorcycle.

“He was later joined by traffic officers but this apparently was not enough to justify the risk to his personal safety.

“It is not the first time Sir Stephen has intervened to tackle motorists he suspects of drink-driving or speeding.

A police spokesperson told the press: “The Chief Constable ‘regularly undertakes journeys in uniform … on a marked police motorbike. He has on occasion had reason to deal with members of the public when issues such as driver behaviour have come to his attention.’

Although some of applauded Sir Stephen on his hands-on attitude to policing others have questioned whether his actions are appropriate given his level of seniority and in their statement. Some officers questioned whether that was the best use of the £208,000-a-year boss’s time

There was a worry that by carrying out policing without backup from his colleagues Sir Stephen could leave himself open to bogus complaints from a member of the public.

Although this is an issue faced daily by rank-and-file officers some believe that given his position it was a risk that the Chief Constable did not need to take.

Margaret Caldwell — **Emma Caldwell’s heartbroken mother Margaret outside court on Wednesday .**

However, he would step down in ignominy just two years later after a series of controversies and failures, most notably the failure to respond to a report of a car crash on the M9 near Stirling in July 2015. As a result, Lamara Bell lay dying in the wreckage for two days next to her dead partner John Yuill.

In April 2015, the Sunday Mail revealed Packer as the ‘forgotten suspect’ in the case. However, instead of acting on the new information, the Counter Corruption Unit at Police Scotland unlawfully used their powers to try to flush out the journalistic sources. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal later found the force had acted “unlawfully”.