Karen Buckley’s father condemns ‘truly evil’ killer

Pacteau, 21, pleaded guilty to the murder of Irish student Karen Buckley on Tuesday.

Karen Buckley left the club at 1am when she met Pacteau across the road and they got into his vehicle.

Karen Buckley, 24, who was murdered by Alexander Pacteau, 21.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, as we know now, when we got that phone call, Karen was missing in Glasgow and her phone had gone dead”, he said.

CCTV footage captured them walking along Dumbarton Road and Pacteau then drove with her in his vehicle to nearby Kelvin Way.

Miss Buckley’s handbag had been found at a park near Pacteau’s flat and her body was later discovered at High Craigton Farm near Milngavie, ending a four-day police search involving divers, a helicopter and search dogs.

Pacteau was charged with Miss Buckley’s murder and appeared in court on April 17.

He pleaded guilty to the charge today, admitting attacking her in his auto on April 12 by strangling her and repeatedly hitting her with the spanner.

Regret Defence counsel John Scullion QC said Pacteau deeply regretted his actions. “We will miss her terribly”.

Following the five day trial Pacteau was found not guilty by a majority verdict. He also went on to a Poundstretcher retail near his level and purchased more the chemical substance.

“He has instructed me to convey on his behalf an apology to Karen Buckley’s family and friends but he understands that such words are unlikely to offer much comfort to them”.

He then returned home, placed the body in the bath and tried to dissolve it with the caustic soda, but when that had little effect, he moved it back to his bedroom and wrapped it in a duvet.

Karen’s parents, John and Marian, and her brothers Brendan, Kieran, and Damien were in court for the proceedings.

Pacteau was said to have initially told police that he met Ms Buckley outside Sanctuary nightclub and that she came back to his flat.

He stopped off to buy padlocks at an Asda then made his way to the farm where he arranged to rent two storage units for a week before moving the barrel into one of the units, covering it with a sheet and placing a bike wheel and paper shredder on top.

George says there was nothing obvious that stood out about his character which gave any suggestion he was capable of such a brutal act.

While waiting for the Ford Focus to be cleaned, Pacteau used his phone to create an advert to sell his auto.

As he opened the door to the police, Pacteau said: “I was just coming to see you”.

Speaking outside court, Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr said there was no connection between Pacteau and Miss Buckley and that it had been a “random attack”.

By this time Ms Buckley’s disappearance had been reported and a massive police operation was under way to locate her.

When shown an account of his earlier claims, Pacteau accepted his statements were untrue. “The last face she saw and the last voice she heard was of that cold-blooded, cowardly murderer”.

He then hid the body of the 24-year-old, from Cork, in a barrel.

“Only for the swift action of the police and the people of Glasgow, we were able to find Karen and bring her home and give her a dignified burial”.

The court heard how Pacteau, who sat in the dock with his head bowed, was interviewed by police.

She left her job at a hospital in Essex and moved to Scotland to start a course at Glasgow Caledonian University in January.