Pacteau ‘enjoyed the chase’ by police, says senior officer

The man jailed for the murder of Cork student Karen Buckley seemed to "enjoy the chase" and the entire process of being interviewed by Scottish police, the officer who led the murder investigation has said.

Det Supt Jim Kerr of Police Scotland, who led a team of over 500 officers in the police investigation when Ms Buckley was reported missing by her friends after a night out in Glasgow around lunchtime on April 12th last, believes that Alexander Pacteau, although only 21, was quite calculating in all his actions.

“Well he’s certainly a calculated individual, he’s intelligent and there’s nothing that he’s done in our opinion that’s not well thought out, (he is) not rash in any way,” said Det Supt Kerr.

“Well he seemed to enjoy the chase, the entire process of being interviewed of being released of being detained later on, he’d plenty opportunity to tell us where Karen Buckley was, what he’d done with her but he did not take that opportunity whatsoever.”

Pacteau eventually pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Buckley and his trial heard he met her by chance as she left the Sanctuary nightclub on the Dumbarton Road in Glasgow. He killed her within 20 minutes of meeting her, bludgeoning her to death with a spanner.

Det Supt Kerr made his comments on a UTV documentary on the murder of the young woman from Mourneabbey in Co Cork. "The Karen Buckley Story - Murder in Glasgow", which is being broadcast on Friday at 8pm, saw UTV Ireland Live News Reporter, Sarah O'Connor interview Det Supt Kerr and his colleague Det Chief Insp Allan Burton about the investigation and how police built a case against Pacteau.

Det Supt Kerr said police uncovered quite a deal of anecdotal information about Pacteau’s behaviour in the months prior to him killing Ms Buckley which suggested an element of premeditation.

“We did uncover some anecdotal information about his conduct over the preceding time that he had made comments before about how would dispose of a body if you committed a murder and attacking women etc, so there was some kind of pre-meditation here,” he said.

Det Kerr’s assessment of Pacteau is echoed by his colleague Det Chief Insp Allan Burton who pointed out that from the time he was detained in Glasgow city centre on Wednesday, April 15th at 1.55pm, he could have offered information at any time on what had happened to Ms Buckley.

“He was brought to this office, he was informed of his rights , he had opportunity throughout the journey, throughout his time coming in here, to say “Here’s what happened, here’s where Karen is, I’m sorry”, whatever remorse he may want to show and he said nothing.

“He was articulate he was intelligent and he could be charming when he was speaking to some of the officers in the investigation, he answered questions of the police and appeared to enjoy being interviewed by the police so whether he saw that as a challenge , I don’t know.”

Det Supt Kerr said Police Scotland spent around €400,000 on the murder investigation employing specialist units and they helped built a strong case which prompted Pacteau to plead guilty and thus spared Ms Buckley’s parents, John and Marian, the trauma of a lengthy trial.

On Tuesday, sentencing judge, Lady Rae imposed the mandatory life sentence on Pacteau for Ms Buckley's murder with a stipulation that he serve at least 23 years before he can apply for parole but Det Supt Kerr believes that he may end up spending longer in jail.

“I think what we will have to remember is that it’s 23 years before he can appeal for parole, at that point and time 23 years from now, a parole board will need to carry out a very rigorous risk assessment about a threat to the public.

“It’s 23 years away but I think it would be a very brave parole board that would decide to let him out at that point and time..... hopefully at some point, he’ll need to deal with consequences of what he’s done but he is a bizarre individual.”

Pacteau had previously been acquitted of an attempted rape of a 24 year old care worker in Glasgow in 2011 in circumstances similar to how he met Ms Buckley, approaching the woman as she returned home from a party and then attacking her, as Det Supt Kerr acknowledged.

“He was tried by a jury of his peers and found not guilty. We’ve been in touch with the victim during the course of this murder investigation, naturally we would have done that and we’ve had a look at that investigation back in 2011,” he said.

“We’ve reported that to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and I really can’t say much about it other than that, but if anyone has any information in relation to any activity Alexander Pacteau did that we are unaware of feel free, I would urge them to give us a phone.”