A man interviewed previously by police investigating one of Scotland’s most high profile murders has spoken publicly for the first time and protested his innocence.

Iain Packer, 46, told BBC Scotland’s “Disclosure: Who Killed Emma?” documentary that he had made an admission to police that he took, Emma Caldwell, to a Lanarkshire forest for sex 14 years ago, but said his words were spoken under duress.

Speaking out on the broadcast, that is also now available on iPlayer, he said he had not been to the woods before and did not kill sex worker Miss Caldwell, 27.

Her body was found in isolated woods, near Roberton, in May 2005. She was naked and had been strangled. The woods are nearly 40 miles away from the red light district in Glasgow where she normally worked.

In the programme - which aired on Wednesday evening on BBC One Scotland, Packer said he did not see Miss Caldwell on the night she went missing.

Her body was found five weeks after she was last seen and Packer was one of the men interviewed, among hundreds of males identified as regular sex worker users.

He gave six statements to police between 2005 and 2007, but was not interviewed under caution as a suspect, the programme said.

When asked about the admissions he made to officers, Mr Packer told the BBC programme: "In that room that day, you're bombarded with questions, calling you a liar. You start to question yourself.

"If you're sitting in a room with two guys point blank, hounding you for hours, restricting you where you go for a fag, restricting you when you go to the toilet, restricting you the fact that they won't give you a lawyer, it's bully tactics is the way I'd put it.”

The police previously focused their investigation on four Turkish men, who were charged with the murder in August 2007. Within a year, the case fell apart and they were released.

Four years ago, the Lord Advocate ordered Police Scotland to re-investigate who killed Miss Caldwell and what went wrong in the original murder inquiry.

Mr Packer said the police have not spoken to him about the matter since his last interview in 2007.

Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: "The investigation into Emma Caldwell's murder remains open and a team of detectives continue to examine the circumstances of her death. To protect any potential legal case we are limited in what information can be released at this time.

"Police Scotland officers have undertaken a significant amount of work re-investigating the whole case and surrounding events following instruction from the Lord Advocate in 2015.

"An Advice and Guidance Report was submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in June last year, which presented the findings, so far, of the murder re-investigation.

"We have asked COPFS to consider this detailed report and await their direction on what further action should be taken.

"The team remains fully committed to catching Emma's killer. All available evidence and any new information continue to be thoroughly investigated.

"A number of alleged sexual offences were also uncovered as part of the ongoing murder investigation and these were reported to COPFS in  June 2016.  Specialist officers from Police Scotland’s National Rape Task Force continue to actively engage with potential victims of sexual and other crime and our commitment is we will listen and robustly investigate, no matter how much time has passed. In relation to the previous investigation by Strathclyde Police in 2005, a preliminary assessment report has been sent to COPFS and we await further instruction."