A GLASGOW man has told how Karen Buckley's killer casually told him: "The perfect murder would be to kill someone and then get rid of their body in a barrel of acid."

George Taylor, a former colleague of evil Alexander Pacteau, says he made the remark, five months before he brutally murdered the nursing student.

After the conversation in November, George, 30, did not see Pacteau again.

He could not have known that four months later, he would act on his words.

George, 30, from Partick, said: "We just thought that's Alex going again, talking a load of sh**. We thought it was from Breaking Bad.

"We just changed the subject.

"I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach when I found out what he did. He had every one of us fooled.

"He had been in my house, he used to give me lifts home. He gave my mother a lift home.

"I had to take a week off work because I was having nightmares."

Alexander Pacteau worked as a shop assistant in the business Designer Rooms Furniture, in Clydebank, which is owned by George's friend, for four years. The pair bonded over beer and pizza and curry nights.

George says there was nothing obvious that stood out about his character which gave any suggestion he was capable of such a brutal act.

He said: "We spent four years together, five days a week. We called him the gentle giant.

"I looked on him as a little brother. He used to run me home after my shift. We used to go for curries to the Spice Garden.

"He was nothing but polite and curteous with customers. He must be a very good liar.

"He didn't like being told what to do and he was quite controlling. He used to go into little tantrums.

"But he was quite happy go lucky. He had quite a good sense of humour. He used to visit prostitutes, he was quite candid about that. He said he enjoyed it and he was in control.

"He was a bit of a Walter Mitty character, a fantasist. He was always saying he was going to become the next millionaire. We just took it that he was a young boy.

"Two years before the murder he was involved in a drag racing accident He was given a 5% chance of survival. He got his kicks from drag racing."

George has told how he even organised a surprise 18th birthday for Pacteau.

He said: "His relationship with his father was quite turbulent. The family had owned a business and it went bust. There was a lot of violence. He used to come into the shop and show us the bruises.

"I pited him."

George winces as he tells how the pair even went to the lock-up of the farm together, where Karen's body was discovered.

George's friend, who owned the retail business rented a lock up at the farm to store fireworks.

Pacteau stopped working with George two years ago and took a job in another shop in Kirkintilloch. George says they began to look on him as a bit of a nuisance as he was often turning up unannounced at the shop.

On the night he murdered Karen, George says Pacteau was out with the son of his friend, who owns the retail business.

He said: "They used to go to Sanctuary a lot. They went about 11.30pm. Pacteau just disappeared."

He said alarm bills rang when his friend realised that police were searching the farm and she alerted the police.

George said: "I had just come back from Sheffield. The next thing I knew I was at Stewart Street police station.

"The wanted to know every minute detail. What his daily habits were, what drink he liked.

"If you had asked me to pick five people who were capable of murder from my mobile phone, I would never have pinned that on Alex.

"I had to take a week off work because I was having nightmares.

"The police said it was an open and closed book exercise but they wanted to make sure it was watertight.

"I was friends with him for four or five years but what he did he did of his own accord.

"What he said to her to get her into the car, we will never know. I'd like to ask him why?"