Karen Buckley's father condemns his daughter's killer as "truly evil"

The 21-year-old monster yesterday admitted brutally murdering Karen and trying to dispose of her body in an acid bath.

He repeatedly clubbed her with a spanner, strangled her and dumped her in a barrel of caustic soda.

He is believed to have lured Karen, 24, into his car outside a Glasgow nightclub by offering her a lift home.

However, Pacteau drove to a secluded West End street and killed the Irish nurse within just 20 minutes of meeting her.

Police piecing together Karen’s last movements found distressing evidence that her body was plunged into a bath of caustic soda, in chilling echoes of a scene from hit US TV show Breaking Bad.

Pacteau placed Karen’s body in his bath and covered it in the corrosive substance before cutting her open “to speed up decomposition”.

The killing is disturbingly similar to a scene in the TV show where Walter White and his accomplice attempt to dissolve a body in a bath using acid.

Former private school pupil Pacteau, who initially denied the murder, changed his plea at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.

For the first time since their only daughter disappeared, her parents Marian and John looked into the eyes of the monster who killed her.

They were in court yesterday, along with Karen's older brothers Brendan, Kieran and Damian, to hear details of the horrific case.

Marian, 61, stared through 6ft 5in tall Pacteau as he was led from the cells to the dock.

Depraved Pacteau made his plea as the Buckley family sat behind him.

Speaking outside the court yesterday afternoon, John, 62, said: "All Karen was doing was making her way home when she was randomly targeted and murdered by a cowardly vicious criminal.

"No words of ours can do justice to our feelings towards him.

"He is truly evil and we hope that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"Our hearts are broken at the thought of Karen's final moments on this world.

"The thought of her being alone, frightened and struggling for her life haunts us.

"The panic and fear she experienced as she fought for her very survival but she had no chance against that coward.

"The last face she saw and the last voice she heard was of that cold blooded cowardly murderer, who calmly set about trying to dispose of her body so she would never be found.

"Only for the swift action of the police and the people of Glasgow we were able to find Karen and bring her home and give her a dignified burial."

Popular Karen, who had recently moved to the city, disappeared while out with friends at the Sanctuary nightclub in Dumbarton Road in the early hours of April 12.

Her worried friends raised the alarm within hours, which triggered a major search operation.

Police repeatedly appealed for information about Karen’s whereabouts, but investigation became a murder inquiry when her remains found in a barrel of “corrosive liquid” at High Craigton Farm, north of the city.

John Scullion QC, defending, said Pacteau wished to convey an apology to Karen's family and friends.

Her family shook their heads as they listened to his sickening attempts at showing remorse.

Mr Scullion added: "He understands such words are unlikely to be a comfort to them.

"The advocate said Pacteau had limited recollection of what took place on the night of the killing.

"His recollection was that shortly after setting off they began to argue.

"The accused recollects a trivial argument in the car.

"He took exception to something Karen Buckley said about the males present in Sanctuary nightclub.

"A trivial argument was the trigger for his subsequent actions.

"He reacted angrily, stopped the car in Kelvin way and assaulted Karen Buckley resulting in her death."

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland paused before reading out the grim details of Karen's injuries, giving her relatives the chance to leave the courtroom.

However, they choose to stay.

Marian had her eyes closed as details of Karen's post mortem examination were revealed to the court.

Later, in a rare move, Mr Mulholland gave Lady Rae a number of treasured photos of Karen, along with three victim impact statements.

The folder included photographs of her Holy Communion as a child, with her brothers and her graduation from the University of Limerick.

A picture of her grave was also among the batch.

Her dad, John continued: "Marian and I, together with our family, would like to thank everybody here in Glasgow and back in Ireland, that have helped us cope with this terrible tragedy.

"We are very grateful for the support and messages of sympathy received and for the people who keep us in their thoughts and prayers.

"We thank the Scottish police for their professionalism in the search for Karen, and in bringing her killer to justice.

"Coming back to Glasgow where our beautiful daughter, sister was brutally murdered, is incredibly difficult for all of us.

"Its every parent's worst nightmare as we know now, when we got that phone call, Karen was missing in Glasgow and her phone had gone dead. "We went over, waited, hoped, and prayed day and night for her safe return, only to be told she had been murdered.

"We were devastated.

"Having to phone our three sons and give them the dreadful news before they heard it on the media was one of the hardest things we ever had to do.

"Kieran and Damien were on route from Sydney.

"It took several hours throughout the night to make contact with them. Brendan was at home.

"I dread to think of them trying to deal with the shock and horror of being told that their only sister had been brutally murdered.

"When Karen's body was released a week later, we went back to Glasgow as a family and brought her to our home in Mourneabbey.

"That was a very special night as we were all together again under the one roof where Karen and her three brothers had grown up.

"Two days later after the funeral mass, our three sons and I lowered Karen's coffin into her grave, her final resting place.

"What a waste of a young life."

Throughout the hearing, Pacteau stared at the ground and showed no emotion.

John added: "Not only did he rob Karen of her precious life and future but he robbed us of our beautiful daughter/sister.

"He also robbed us of Karen in death as we never got to see her, hold her or kiss her goodbye.

"It's too late now for Karen but in the future we hope Glasgow will be a safer place for women to walk in, which is their right and to not have this evil murderer to fear.

"Karen was a normal 24-year-old girl very kind, always smiling, always happy, the youngest of four, our only daughter, and our baby.

"Just like her brothers she was so genuine so caring she loved life.

"As a fully qualified nurse she especially liked helping older people.

"She loved Glasgow and the Caledonia University where she studied Occupational Therapy.

"Like many young people, Karen loved to travel, she made lots of friends and thoroughly enjoyed her life.

"We will never see Karen again in this life.

"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.

"Though Karen will never come back, we only hope someday to be with her.

"One word has come up so many times and Marian has said it again and again. Karen is our Little Angel and she is right.

"She is not suffering now, she is in her new home in heaven."

Pacteau will be sentenced on September 8.