A 21-year old man has pleaded guilty in court in Glasgow to the murder of Karen Buckley, the university student from Co Cork who was murdered in the city last April after disappearing outside a nightclub.
The court heard Ms Buckley, a 24-year old nurse from Mourneabbey in north Cork, was killed by Alexander Pacteau within 20 minutes of meeting him by chance outside the nightclub on April 12th last.
Pacteau tried to dispose of her body by first soaking her remains in a bath of caustic soda and later in a barrel of the same solution, the court was told.
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After he pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow this morning, he was remanded in custody for sentencing at a later day for the murder of Ms Buckley at Kelvin Way, Glasgow in the early hours of April 12th last. He faces a sentence of life imprisonment.
Ms Buckley’s parents, John and Marian Buckley, and her brothers Brendan, Kieran and Damian were in court to hear an outline of how Pacteau killed her after a chance meeting on a night out.
A qualified nurse, Ms Buckley had moved to Glasgow last January to study for a master’s degree in occupational therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University.
An outline of the case was given by Frank Mulholland QC, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, the Scottish equivalent of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Ireland.
Mr Mulholland told the court police had established Pacteau murdered Ms Buckley within 20 minutes of meeting her by chance outside the Sanctuary nightclub on Dumbarton Road in Glasgow.
Ms Buckley had not known Pacteau and had not met him in the nightclub where they had both been socialising prior to her deciding to head back to her flat at Hill Street at about 1am on April 12th.
Pacteau was outside the nightclub when Ms Buckley left the premises alone. He crossed the road and engaged her in conversation as they walked along Dumbarton Road, said Mr Mulholland.
Police believe the encounter was entirely random and CCTV footage showed they were not engaged romantically in any way but simply talking as they walked beside each other on the footpath, he said.
Police did not find any CCTV footage of Ms Buckley getting into Pacteau’s Ford Focus car which was parked about 100 metres from the club but they believe that he offered her a lift home.
The car appeared to drive in the direction of Ms Buckley’s flat at Hill Street in Garnetthill initially, but police were satisfied that he drove not to her flat, but to Kelvin Way, some 4.5kms away.
Mr Mulholland said police did not have any CCTV footage of Pacteau’s car at Kelvin Way but they had footage of it approaching the area and of leaving it some 12 minutes and 46 seconds later.
Police were satisfied it was at Kelvin Way that Pacteau murdered Ms Buckley in his car, grabbing her by the throat with one hand before striking her repeatedly on the head with a wrench, he said.
A postmortem on Ms Buckley’s body revealed she was struck 12 or 13 times on the head with the 30cm wrench, with the blows fracturing her skull and causing a subdural brain haemorrhage.
Mr Mulholland said the post-mortem also found Ms Buckley had injuries to both her hands and arms which were consistent with her trying to defend herself against Pacteau in the car.
“These injuries along with some injuries on Pacteau’s arms are consistent with a narrative that she put up a fight and fought for her life and her family takes some comfort from that,” said Mr Mulholland.
There was no evidence of Ms Buckley being sexually assaulted and Pacteau’s version of events that she had returned to his flat with him where they had consensual sex was all lies, he said.
Ms Buckley never entered his flat alive, although he did bring her body to the flat after killing her where he attempted to destroy it by soaking it in a bath full of caustic soda, he said.
Pacteau later put Ms Buckley’s body in a barrrel of caustic soda in a further attempt to destroy it, and he hid the barrel in a shed which he rented for the purpose at a farm outside Glasgow.
Defence counsel John Scullion said Pacteau accepted he had assaulted Ms Buckley and killed her as described.
He said his client accepted full responsibility for his actions and wanted to express his “regret and remorse” for what he did.
“He has asked me to convey on his behalf an apology to Karen Buckley’s family and friends but he understands that such words will be of little comfort to them,” Mr Scullion said.
“Nothing said on his behalf is likely to lessen the pain and suffering that he has caused to those who loved Karen Buckley.”
Mr Scullion said Pacteau met Ms Buckley outside the nightclub and they spoke briefly before she entered his car. His recollection was that very shortly after getting into the car a trivial argument occurred and he took exception to something Ms Buckley said about the men in the Sanctuary nightclub.
The court heard that Pacteau recalled stopping the car on Kelvin Way, where he assaulted Ms Buckley in the manner described in the narrative
Mr Scullion his client could offer no rational explanation for what happened that night and was extremely intoxicated. While it did not excuse his behaviour, it was the only explanation he could give for his loss of self-control, Mr Scullion added.
He said his client did not intend to kill Ms Buckley but accepted everything he did after her death was “despicable and beneath contempt”.
Pacteau had been assessed by psychiatrists and they found no mental health issues and he was fit to plead to the charge, Mr Scullion said.
The judge, Lady Rae, told Pacteau it was a shocking and disturbing case in which he had killed a young woman who was a stranger to him in what appeared to be a “motiveless, senseless, brutal attack”.
She sought to defer sentencing until September 8th and to asses victim impact statements from Ms Buckley’s parents and her brothers Kieran and Damian.
