Karen Buckley murderer to appeal length of prison sentence

Alexander Pacteau (aged 21) was given a minimum 23-year life sentence for the murder of Karen Buckley.

Pacteau received a mandatory life sentence in Glasgow High Court last week and was told he would have to serve a minimum of 23 years in prison before he could apply for parole.

Pacteau, who had attempted to dispose of the nurse’s body in a Value-Added Tax of chemicals, was described as carrying out a “brutal, senseless and motiveless attack on a defenceless young woman” when he was sentenced by Judge Lady Rae at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this month.

The papers were lodged at the Criminal Court of Appeal in Edinburgh earlier in the week.

A major search followed and the 24-year-old nurse’s remains were eventually found in a barrel on farmland outside Glasgow.

Karen’s family said they were “absolutely heartbroken” by the loss of their “cherished” daughter. The judge criticised the decision to drop a second charge against Pacteau which could have cut his time behind bars.

The judge said the Crown had “for some reason” chosen not to seek conviction on that charge, despite detailing in the narrative agreed with the defence “many factors which would have fully justified such a charge”.

A court spokesman said: “He lodged a notice of intention to appeal against sentence on 16 September”.

A Scottish politician has called for a crackdown on prison “perks” after it emerged Pacteau can watch satellite television and play games consoles in his cell.

Pacteau pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Buckley in his vehicle , after giving her a lift in his auto outside a Glasgow nightclub in April.

The caring Cork native was killed in Pacteau’s auto shortly after leaving The Sanctuary club in the city.

He took her body to his flat, where he stored it in the bath. The vehicle was seen stopped for over 12 minutes in Kelvin Way, less than a mile from the club.

Pacteau grabbed her by the neck and tried to strangle her, then used a foot-long spanner repeatedly smash her over the head.

He initially claimed to detectives, who identified him from CCTV footage, that they had consensual sex at his flat and she had fallen and injured herself on the bed frame before leaving.