Man pleads guilty to Karen Buckley murder

Courier firm operator Alexander Pacteau admitted murdering Karen Buckley, 24, when he appeared at the city’s High Court this morning. He is taken to the police station as a witness, saying Ms Buckley came back to his flat and had sex before leaving. After a few hours the caustic soda has not worked. She is seen on CCTV outside the club talking to a man and then walking west along Dumbarton Road towards Church Street.

Within 20 minutes of the chance meeting, Karen was dead.

5pm Pacteau drains the bath, takes Ms Buckley’s body back to his bedroom and wraps her in a duvet. He also went to a Poundstretcher store near his flat and bought more of the chemical.

Pacteau is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

5am Ms Buckley’s flatmates report her missing after she fails to return home and they are unable to contact her.

Her handbag, which was found by a member of the public, was handed into officers and concerns about her welfare continue to grow.

Pacteau throws the spanner in the Forth and Clyde canal.

He later placed Karen’s body in a blue plastic barrel together with 40 litres of caustic soda.

Police at High Craigton Farm near Milngavie.

3pm A member of the public calls police and tells them about Pacteau’s connections with High Craigton Farm.

Pacteau was found cleaning the hall and stairwell when his flatmate returned home at around 8pm.

Police officers knocked on his door around two hours later after he was identified as the man talking to Miss Buckley on CCTV.

The officers noticed a strong smell of bleach in the flat and a tool box and other items in a bedroom.

“It immediately raised alarm bells”. It is most hard then for them, but in particular for Karen’s parents, John and Marian, to associate the cradle to the coffin. He claimed he hadn’t realised she had been bleeding until the morning.

1am Pacteau seen on CCTV leading the club, walking up and down the road before returning to the club and then leaving again.

There will be live updates as we get them. During a search, police found a Poundstrecher receipt for a series of chemicals and padlock keys in the 21-year-old’s pockets.

Our insider added: “He was obviously losing track of this lies”. The farm is searched and Pacteau’s storage unit is found. She gets into his vehicle.

It also showed a series of bruises on her hands and arms that were consistent with a struggle.

“Karen was our only daughter, cherished by our family and loved by her friends”.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Pacteau continued to lie.

Pacteau eventually came clean about his crime, which had shocked and repulsed Glasgow.

Her body was found four days later on a Glasgow farm.

She had spent six happy weeks in Glasgow before her life was brutally snatched away.

Pacteau has been in custody in Barlinnie Prison since last April.

But his confession had not saved her family from hearing the gruesome details of her death or the pain of a life without their beloved daughter.