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Man pleads guilty to Karen Buckley murder Man pleads guilty to Karen Buckley murder
(about 1 hour later)
A man has admitted murdering the Irish student Karen Buckley, who disappeared after a night out in Glasgow in April. A convicted forger has admitted that he killed the Irish student Karen Buckley, whose body was found on a farm on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Alexander Pacteau, 21, who repeatedly hit his victim on the head and body with a spanner, pleaded guilty when he appeared at the high court in the city on Tuesday. Alexander Pacteau, 21, who has a previous conviction for printing counterfeit £20 notes, now faces a mandatory life sentence after pleading guilty to strangling and repeatedly hitting Ms Buckley on her head and body after he had given her a lift home from a nightclub in Glasgow.
A major search was launched for the 24-year-oldfrom Cork when she was reported missing from the flat she shared with friends after failing to return home from a nightclub in Glasgow’s west end. Her body was found days later at a farm on the outskirts of the city. Her father, John Buckley, described Pacteau as “truly evil” and said he hoped he would “spend the rest of his life behind bars”.
The nurse, who was studying for a postgraduate qualification at Glasgow Caledonian University, was seen on CCTV leaving the Sanctuary nightclub in the early hours of Sunday 12 April and talking to a man as they walked along Dumbarton Road. In a statement released by the police after the hearing, Buckley said the family was devastated and heartbroken at the thought of his daughter’s final moments. “What a waste of a young life. It all seemed unreal,” he said. Thanking the people of Glasgow and Ireland, Buckley added: “We miss her terribly.”
Detectives soon said they were treating her disappearance as a high-risk missing person inquiry and her parents flew over from Ireland. “We will never see Karen again in this life,” he continued. “Never see her smiling face, hear her laugh and hear her voice. There are no words to describe our loss. We know even though she is gone from this life, she is still very close to us. She will always be in our broken hearts wherever we go. We talk to her, pray to her and we know that she will help us.”
By the Tuesday, police revealed they had spoken to the man seen talking to Ms Buckley outside the club. He had said she went with him to his flat a few miles away in Dorchester Avenue before leaving some hours later. Police also appealed for information about a grey car that was seen on the roads between Milngavie and Drymen on the Sunday. Ms Buckley’s disappearance early on Sunday 12 April sparked a major search and public appeals for sightings. Her flatmates told the police it was completely out of character for her not to tell them where she was and when she would be home.
The student’s handbag had been found at a park near the man’s flat and the police hunt focused on the two sites in the north-west of the city. Ms Buckley, 24, from Cork in Ireland, had moved to Glasgow to study for a masters degree in occupational health therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University, and was last seen on CCTV leaving the Sanctuary nightclub early that Sunday morning. The footage recorded her talking to a man as they walked along Dumbarton Road.
The man was named in reports as Alexander Pacteau and the following day he was detained by police. A body was later found at High Craigton farm near Milngavie, ending the four-day police search. Police Scotland said they were treating her disappearance as a high-risk missing person inquiry, leading her parents, John and Marian, to fly over from Ireland as the search quickly attracted a huge public response. A Facebook page set up urging people to look out for her soon gathered tens of thousands of followers and shares.
Pacteau was arrested and appeared in court on 17 April charged with murder. When Pacteau appeared in court charged with her murder four days after her disappearance, around 300 people gathered in George Square near Glasgow city chambers for a memorial vigil, where a piper played and others sang Scottish and Irish songs before a minute’s silence was held.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the charge, admitting attacking her in his car on 12 April by strangling her and repeatedly hitting her with a spanner. Wellwishers brought flowers, candles, cards and messages, sharing their grief with the Buckleys, who arrived with two of her brothers to look at the tributes. Outgoing and a keen traveller, she was described as someone who had “thoroughly enjoyed life”.
The court heard how the two met outside the club and he drove her in his car to nearby Kelvin Way. The car was parked on the street for 12 minutes, during which time Pacteau attacked and murdered her by grabbing her neck and delivering 12 or 13 blows with the spanner. The court was told Ms Buckley suffered some injuries to her arm as she tried to defend herself. The following evening, 1,000 candles were lit as around 150 neighbours near her flat in Garnethill in central Glasgow gathered to be part of a silent vigil, close to where the student lived.
Pacteau’s silver Ford Focus was seen on CCTV leaving the area and heading towards Dawsholm Park, where the following morning a member of the public found Ms Buckley’s handbag near a bin. In Ireland, prayers were offered at church services near the family home in Mourneabbey, north Cork, and the nearby town of Mallow. At her old university in Limerick, where Ms Buckley had studied nursing, a mass was held and a small memorial built, while an online fundraising drive organised by former classmates for her family raised about £50,000, more than 10 times the original target.
The lord advocate, Frank Mulholland QC, prosecuting, told the court how Pacteau drove from the park to his flat and took Ms Buckley’s body to his room. After leaving a job in Essex to take up the masters course in January, Ms Buckley had gone out with her flatmates to try out the Sanctuary in the city’s west end.
At 8am he used his mobile phone to search online for the properties of the chemical sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda. He then locked his bedroom door and travelled to a B&Q store where he bought six litres of the chemical, masks and gloves, the court heard. He also went to a Poundstretcher store near his flat and bought more of the chemical. An hour after they arrived there at 11.45pm on Saturday night, she decided to leave on her own; she is thought to have told friends she was going to the toilet but failed to return, leaving her jacket behind.
He texted his flatmate to make sure he was out for the day, then returned to the flat and left Ms Buckley’s body in the bath. In the days following Ms Buckley’s disappearance, detectives had disclosed they had spoken to the man seen talking to her outside the club. It soon emerged that was Pacteau, who had denied any knowledge of her whereabouts and claimed she travelled with him to his flat a few miles away in Dorchester Avenue in Kelvindale before leaving some hours later.
Pacteau was found cleaning the hall and stairwell when his flatmate returned home at around 8pm. He had moved Ms Buckley’s body into his locked bedroom again wrapped in a duvet, the court heard. Police Scotland issued an appeal for eyewitnesses who may have seen a grey car, which had been spotted on roads between Milngavie and Drymen on the outskirts of Glasgow that Sunday.
Mulholland told the court how Pacteau left his flat at around 5am the following morning and went to a bridge over the nearby Forth and Clyde canal where he threw the spanner in the water. He then drove to a supermarket and bought cleaning products and asked a member of staff to recommend a product for removing blood from a mattress. Ms Buckley’s handbag was found by a member of the public in a park near to Pacteau’s flat. The police focused their hunt in both neighbourhoods and after a four-day search, her body was found at High Craigton farm near Milngavie.
Pacteau made his first journey to High Craigton farm, an area familiar to him because he rented a storage unit there during a previous job selling fireworks, and stopped at a supermarket on the way to buy white spirit and a lighter, the court was told. Scotland’s chief prosecutor, lord advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, told the high court in Glasgow on Tuesday that Ms Buckley’s final journey in Pacteau’s car had been largely tracked by CCTV, while his mobile phone records and receipts from nearby shops enabled detectives to uncover his plans to dispose of Buckley’s body.
He burned some clothing at the farm before returning to his flat where he used his mobile phone to call a packaging company and ordered a large blue barrel. Mulholland said Pacteau collected the barrel and returned to Dorchester Avenue where he placed Ms Buckley’s body inside it. “No words of mine can express the effect this terrible murder has had on the family,” the lord advocate told the court, as Pacteau sat in the dock, his head bowed.
He then drove the mattress to the farmland where he burned it along with other items before returning to the flat and putting the barrel in his car. He stopped to buy padlocks at an Asda store then went to the farm where he arranged to rent two storage units for a week. He moved the barrel into one of the units, covered it with a sheet and placed a bike wheel and paper shredder on top. The court heard that Ms Buckley had spoken to Pacteau outside the nightclub and had gone in his car with him to Kelvin Way, a quiet avenue in Kelvingrove park. His silver Ford Focus was parked there for 12 minutes, as Pacteau murdered her by grabbing her neck and hitting her 12 or 13 times with the spanner. She had tried to fight back.
Pacteau visited a car valet on his way home, at around 4pm, the court heard. While waiting for the Ford Focus to be cleaned, he used his phone to create an advert to sell his car. Mulholland revealed that Pacteau then drove her body to his flat, taking it to his room. At 8am he used his mobile phone to search for the properties of sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda. After locking his bedroom door, he travelled to a branch of B&Q where he bought six litres of the chemical, masks and gloves.
Police officers knocked on his door around two hours later after he was identified as the man talking to Ms Buckley on CCTV. As he opened the door to the police Pacteau said: “I was just coming to see you”, Mulholland told the court. He then went to a Poundstretcher store near his flat and bought more of the chemical. After texting his flatmate to make sure he was out for the day, Pacteau then returned to the flat and left Buckley’s body in the bath. His flatmate returned home at 8pm to find Pacteau cleaning the hall and stairwell. He had moved her body into his locked bedroom again wrapped in a duvet, the court heard.
The officers noticed a strong smell of bleach in the flat and a tool box and other items in a bedroom. Pacteau agreed to go with the officers to the station as a witness. During a search, police found a Poundstretcher receipt for a series of chemicals and padlock keys in the 21-year-old’s pockets. Mulholland told the court that Pacteau threw the spanner into the nearby Forth and Clyde canal early the next morning, before buying a cleaning fluid able to remove blood from a mattress. He drove on to High Craigton farm, where he had rented a storage unit during a previous job selling fireworks, stopping off at a supermarket on the way to buy white spirit and a lighter.
He gave a statement saying he met Ms Buckley outside the club and they both went back to his flat where they had consensual sex. After burning some clothing there, he went home to order a large blue barrel in which he put Buckley’s body. He then drove the mattress in his car up to the farm to be burnt with other incriminating evidence, before returning to his flat and taking the barrel to his car.
He told police Ms Buckley had fallen and injured herself on the bed frame but he did not notice she had been bleeding until the following morning, and when he realised police were looking for information regarding her disappearance he panicked. He stopped off en route to buy padlocks before returning to the farm to rent two storage units for a week; he put the barrel in one unit, disguising it with a sheet, placing a bike wheel and paper shredder on top. He then drove his car to be valeted, where he drafted an advert to sell the car on his phone.
He told them he had burned the mattress and clothes on a forest road near Drymen and he did this because he was aware he was the last person to see her alive. The police arrived at his flat that day, to be greeted by a strong smell of bleach. Pacteau had already devised his cover story, claiming they had had consensual sex but Ms Buckley had fallen, injuring herself on the bedframe, before leaving for home.
Meanwhile, police searching his flat removed items to be examined and Ms Buckley’s blood was confirmed as being within the property. After Pacteau’s defence lawyer, John Scullion QC, told the court his client took full responsibility for his “despicable” actions – for which he could offer no rational explanation, Judge Lady Rae deferred Pacteau’s sentencing until 8 September.
When he was detained by police, officers recovered a handwritten note containing the account of what he had earlier told police. The lord advocate said it was now accepted by the accused that his statements were untrue. She told him: “This crime is a very shocking and disturbing case. You killed a young woman who was a stranger to you in what appears to be a motiveless, senseless, brutal attack.”
The court heard how a member of the public had contacted police after reading that Pacteau was the last person so see Ms Buckley alive and realising police were looking for information on a vehicle seen on roads near Drymen, the witness told officers about the storage unit at the farm that Pacteau used in the past.
Police then went to High Craigton farm where they found the blue plastic barrel containing Ms Buckley’s body.
A postmortem examination showed she had suffered multiple injuries to her head consistent with blunt force, the court heard.