Karen fought for her life as
Pacteau admitted to murder of student nurse as his lies unravelled
ON a Saturday night in Glasgow’s busy west end, Karen Buckley was enjoying a drink with friends.
She got ready at her flat in Hill Street before heading with her friends to the Sanctuary nightclub in Dumbarton Road, arriving at 11.45pm.
It was not somewhere the 24-year-old had been regularly, but she and her friends were new to Glasgow and were exploring different venues.
More than an hour later, outside in the street, she met Alexander Pacteau and got into his car. Within 20 minutes Ms Buckley was dead.
He had ventured out that night looking for a victim. In fact, Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr said Pacteau was willing to prey on any woman who crossed his path and the killer’s fatal attack “could have happened to any female”.
More than 500 police officers and civilian staff were involved in the missing persons inquiry and subsequent murder investigation.
Mr Kerr, who led the inquiry, branded the 21-year-old a “callous and calculated” murderer whose “lies unravelled” through a combination of information from the community, investigative work and forensic techniques.
He said: “For Karen to have disappeared like that was so completely out of character and our investigation moved quickly as concerns for her safety escalated.
“Members of the public played a vital role in helping us unlock the circumstances of her disappearance and that led us to Alexander Pacteau.
“His actions left Karen’s family and friends devastated and impacted upon communities in both Scotland and Ireland.”
A total of 1,900 hours of CCTV footage were reviewed by officers working on the case.
They included chilling images showing Pacteau buying bottles of caustic soda at a city shop less than 10 hours after he brutally murdered Ms Buckley.
He calmly loaded up his basket and paid for the bottles, which he would then use to try to dissolve Ms Buckley’s body in an attempt to cover up his tracks which mirrored a scene played out on TV series Breaking Bad.
Ms Buckley was murdered by Pacteau in his car in Kelvin Way, in Glasgow’s west end, at around 1.10am on Sunday, April 12.
He repeatedly clubbed her on the head with a spanner and throttled her before attempting to dissolve her body in corrosive caustic soda. He dumped her handbag in Dawsholm Park and took her body to his flat in Dorchester Avenue.
Having used his mobile phone to search the internet for information about caustic soda, Pacteau spent that Sunday morning driving to various supermarkets and DIY stores in the west end to pick up supplies to cover his tracks.
Security footage taken at just 11am the same day shows Pacteau buying several bottles of caustic soda at the PoundStretcher store in Crow Road.
While his flatmate was out, Pacteau carried Ms Buckley’s beaten body into his bathroom and placed her in the bath.
He submerged her body in caustic soda and then tried to clean the flat of any trace of the 24-year-old Irish nurse.
At around lunchtime, Ms Buckley’s worried friends reported her missing and a massive police operation was launched. As part of the missing persons inquiry, police checked CCTV inside Sanctuary and outside in Dumbarton Road to try to track down the mystery man with whom she had been spotted.
Her handbag, which was found by a member of the public, was handed into officers and concerns about her welfare grew.
Meanwhile, Pacteau’s flatmate was due to return home, forcing the killer to drain the bath and wrap his victim’s body in a duvet overnight.
Sources close to the probe said at around 4.50am on Monday, April 13, Pacteau went to the Forth and Clyde Canal and threw the blood-stained spanner into the water. He drove to a 24-hour supermarket and asked a shop assistant to recommend a cleaning agent for removing blood from a mattress.
After spending more than an hour trying to clean Ms Buckley’s blood from the duvet and mattress, Pacteau decided to bur n everything she had come into
‘‘ Members of the public played a vital role in helping us unlock the circumstances of her disappearance
contact with. Later, he bought a 220-litre blue plastic barrel and, before placing Ms Buckley’s body inside, he filled it with yet more caustic soda.
That afternoon, Pacteau took the barrel to High Craigton Farm, near Milngavie, where he used to store fireworks. He agreed a deal with the farmer to rent an outhouse for £10 for a week and hid the barrel inside, placing a cotton sheet, paper shredder and bicycle wheel on top.
Within moments of him arriving home, police – who by this time had identified Pacteau as the unknown man seen with Ms Buckley – knocked the door of his flat in Dorchester Avenue. Pacteau answered and said to the officers: “I was just coming to see you.”
A source close to the investigation said: “As soon as he opened the front door, the officers were hit by an overwhelming smell of bleach. It immediately raised alarm bells. Pacteau admitted that Karen was in his flat, he said they had consensual sex and she left – alive and well – at 4am.”
He agreed to go to Helen Street Police Office to give a witness statement.
The source added: “He said they went back to his flat, drank alcohol and had consensual sex.
“He then said that during intercourse, Karen fell off the bed. He claimed he hadn’t realised she had been bleeding until the morning. He admitted he had got rid of some stuff from his flat and burned it. He said he panicked when he heard Karen was missing.”
Police did not have enough evidence to hold Pacteau and he was allowed to leave the station late that Monday night.
On Wednesday April 15, police decided they had enough evidence to treat the courier firm owner as a suspect.
He was detained in Starbucks in Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow city centre shortly before 2pm and, again, was taken to Helen Street Police Office.
Pacteau was searched upon arrival and officers found a handwritten note, on hotel-headed paper, which detailed the version of events he had earlier given.
Our insider added: “He was obviously losing track of this lies.”
Around an hour later, a member of the public contacted police with information about High Craigton Farm. He explained how he worked with Pacteau when they sold fireworks together and they used to store their goods at a farm.
This vital tip-off led police to the farm – and ultimately to Ms Buckley’s body. Her head was wrapped in parcel tape and her naked body submerged in caustic soda.
Police said a post-mortem examination revealed she had been hit 12 or 13 times on the head with a spanner and violently strangled. It also showed a series of bruises on her hands and arms that were consistent with a struggle. She had fought for her life. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Pacteau continued to lie.
“He changed his story”, the source added. “Now he was saying that during sex, Karen slipped and hit her head, making her very angry. He said she was repeatedly slapping him and he reached out for the first thing he could find – a spanner – and hit her on the head. He said she died at 5am. “But this was all lies. “He admits throwing the spanner in the canal, burning the mattress and Karen’s clothes, as well as disposing of her body in caustic soda. After this, he was charged.”
Despite his “elaborate plan” to dispose of Ms Buckley’s body, the forensic evidence was damning.
Tiny blood spots were found in his car, bedroom and bathroom. He even left a fingerprint inside the barrel used to hide the body.
In the end, the evidence was overwhelming and Pacteau admitted to the murder.
Mr Kerr added: “The sheer weight of evidence we were able to gather has led to today’s guilty plea. As a result, Karen’s family have been spared the further distress of a trial. Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.”
Th‘
e sheer weight of evidence we were able to gather has led to today’s guilty plea. Karen’s family have been spared the further distress of a trial